Doing own structural survey of property?

Hermiod

Hi,

I am a structural engineer and do home buyer structural surveys at least 3 times a week to satisfy mortgage lenders. I am curious as to whether a mortgage lender will accept a structural survey performed by myself and checked and signed off by employer, who is a large civil and structural consultancy. It is going to bother me if I have to spend £500 for a structural survey that I could happily do myself, free of charge.

Any views on this would be much appreciated,

Hermiod

Guest101

Hermiod wrote: »

Hi,

I am a structural engineer and do home buyer structural surveys at least 3 times a week to satisfy mortgage lenders. I am curious as to whether a mortgage lender will accept a structural survey performed by myself and checked and signed off by employer, who is a large civil and structural consultancy. It is going to bother me if I have to spend £500 for a structural survey that I could happily do myself, free of charge.

Any views on this would be much appreciated,

Hermiod

I'd say no. But depends on your lender

gettingtheresometime

Would your company be prepared to use it's professional indemnity insurance if you missed something, especially as it sounds you wouldn't be expecting them to charge for signing it off

Surrey_EA

It is rare for a mortgage lender to be interested in seeing a structural survey, unless a particular reason for one being carried out has been identified.

Typically all they're interested in is a satisfactory mortgage valuation.

Therefore, you will not need to spend £500 on a structural survey as it is unlikely your lender will require one. However, you will very likely need to pay for a mortgage valuation.

At the risk of being pedantic, very few people have a structural survey carried out on the property they are buying. What most people refer to as a 'full structural survey' should really be referred to as a 'buildings survey.'
(Hermiod, given your profession I realise you are well aware of the difference! But I see so many people on this board refer to a full structural survey, when the mean buildings survey)

Rambosmum

A homebuyers or structural survey is usually an 'add on' service you pay for from your lender. They usually only want a valuation report, which is often free. Has your lender specified £500 for their survey?

Surrey_EA

Rambosmum wrote: »

A homebuyers or [STRIKE]structural[/STRIKE] buildings survey is usually an 'add on' service you pay for from your lender. They usually only want a valuation report, which is often free. Has your lender specified £500 for their survey?

sorry! I don't mean to be this annoying!

davidmcn

You'd need to check with the lender. They have different policies where the borrower is a solicitor (in the firm acting for the lender) so I expect some may be fussy about the surveyor doing their own inspection.

ReadingTim

I'd be very surprised if there wasn't any kind of markup between what the bank charges the punter and what the bank pays the surveyor. So, what saves you money, costs the bank profit.

What therefore, do you think they'll say...?

teneighty

The most important element from the mortgage lenders point of view is the valuation.

That can only be undertaken by a Registered Valuer who is on the lenders approved panel. A lender would never accept a valuation from the purchaser due to the obvious conflict of interest and potential for fraud.

G_M

Just to clarify (for me and others since this must be teaching grandma to suck for you):

As a structural Engineer I would not expect you to be doing standard surveys on property purchases - those are typically done by RICS surveyors.

And those surveys (whether a Home-Buyers' or 'full building survey') are rarely required by mortgage lenders - they are optional at the discretion of the buyer. The lender simply (normally) requires a 'Valuation survey' which in some cases is little more than a drive-past to ensure the property exists and is standing!

A Structural Engineer like yourself is typically instructed where either the Valuation, or the Home-Buyers, has suggested a structural problem with the building.

So I assume you are planning to buy a property with an identified potential structural issue?

I would imagine that in that case, the lender would want to avoid the obvious conflict of interest between your roles as buyer, and consultant to the lender reporting on the identified structural issue.

gettingtheresometime

teneighty wrote: »

The most important element from the mortgage lenders point of view is the valuation.

That can only be undertaken by a Registered Valuer who is on the lenders approved panel. A lender would never accept a valuation from the purchaser due to the obvious conflict of interest and potential for fraud.

I think that the OP would want the structural survey to satisfy themselves that the house wasn't about to fall down.