Surveys: buyers on site while it happens?

MaMoneyMaMoney

Haha fair point everyone. I guess I should stop being so paranoid.

G_M

I mentioned to my surveyor just before xmas that I might be there with a arcitect the same day.

He didn't exactly tell me not to come but made clear he expected to be left alone to get on with his job.

He was happy to discuss with me on the phone beforehand my plans and concerns, and agreed to focus on relevant areas (eg whether a wall I wanted to remove was load-bearing) and skip over other things (eg not examine/comment on the kitchen I planned to replace).

He was also happy to have 2 phone calls and 3 email exchanges afterwards on points in his report I wanted explaining/more detail on.

I'd chosen a surveyor who charged more than the minimum, after speaking to him. An internet-based survey company would have been cheaper but probably would not have been so approachable.

Sorry - digression. But to answer your question, no, surveyors do not want buyers trailing round with them, looking over their shoulder, and pestering them with Qs while they work!

Ithaca

I asked whether I could attend when we had our potential house purchase surveyed. The surveyor wasn't opposed in principle, although he said it would be pretty boring as he wasn't going to give a running commentary as he walked around (but happy to summarise main points at the end). So it would be a few hours of watching someone wander round a house with a tape recorder.

Main issue was that the estate agent wasn't willing / able to leave me as a vendor in the house without an estate agent present (different for surveyor as assume they have insurance etc); so would have meant the estate agent hanging around too and they said (politely but fairly) they had better and more profitable things to spend their time on.

phoebe1989seb

Years ago - early '90s probably - my dad accompanied the surveyor around two properties he was in the process of purchasing. Both were unoccupied and in both cases - different surveyor - he enquired first if it was acceptable.

These were surveys he had commissioned, no mortgage required.

Probably very different now, although on a slightly different note, a year ago the buyers of our house accompanied the structural engineer they had instructed to check out supposed subsidence at the property.

Sibz

Not sure from a buyers point of view, but wouldn't the seller also be there?

Mutton_Geoff

MaMoneyMaMoney wrote: »

If I am to pay big money for a house (read: London), I want absolutely every stone and even grain of sand to be checked upside down.

Your survey is likely to cost you a lot of money or you will be disappointed. On my last purchase, the lender wanted their own valuation survey that cost me £1,000 for 10 mins "work". I asked to upgrade this to a buildings survey but the lender didn't offer this option. My only choice was to pay for another survey to my specification but instead, being fairly knowledgeable about property and their inherent faults, I did my own detailed look round then knocked 10% off the asking price on the basis that everything needed doing.

phill99

Sibz wrote: »

Not sure from a buyers point of view, but wouldn't the seller also be there?

Probably not.


They could be at work. The house might be being sold as part of a deceased's estate. Could be a landlord owned property and the tenant has moved out.


Whole host of reasons why the property could be unoccupied.