Is it common to buy an old semi without bothering with any surveys at all?

babyblade41

My previous purchase was a house of 20 years old and I did get a survey as I don't trust the way relatively new houses are built... it was surprising how bad things were and when I sold a month ago I was very surprised the new owners never bothered to have one although I did offer mine for half price
The house I have just bought I haven't had one as it is very tired, very dated and needs total modernisation , but it has been stood for 100 years and most probably will be here long after I'm gone
No obvious cracks and no papering over walls to cover as it's come off
Damp problem recently fixed as new flashing round chimney breasts and re=pointing chimney with roof cowls and relatively new guttering

If you feel worried it's well worth getting one, you can check if they had a mortgage with Land Registry

Slithery

AnotherJoe wrote: »

I've bought twice, for cash, without a survey.

In one case i took a builder friend round to give it a once over.

That's exactly what I came to post. I didn't bother with searches either as I knew the area.

phoebe1989seb

Mr.Generous wrote: »

Personally we don't bother with surveys, but we buy dumps. My brother had a couple of surveys in the early days because his wife gets nervous, they were a waste of time. Stated the B...… obvious, and covered themselves on everything else … while no evidence was seen at the time of our visit we recommend a specialist survey ….

We've bought our last four houses with cash and haven't had surveys on any of them.

Ours could also be considered dumps by some, although I prefer the term characterful wrecks, lol! Current place was a repossession and it was pretty obvious what needed doing.

These properties were anything from one to four hundred years old, btw.

No searches either.

It's a risk, obviously, but DH knows a lot about old buildings and in our experience of surveyors - on houses we've sold mainly - they do an awful lot of covering their you know what

knightstyle

Like some others we have bought several houses without any survey. I always have a good look round the outside walls and in the loft looking for any obvious signs that all is not well.
I like older untarted up properties as you never know what is under newly decorated paint/wallpaper.
When I bought my first house I had a proper survey but they said anything about a crack from basement to roof that in the loft was wide enough to put your hand in!

WibblyGirly

We're buying our first house now and are not bothering with a survey, we're taking a friend round who has worked on a lot of houses for his opinion.
The house is just under 50 years old and looks nicer and better looked after than any rental I've been in so to us it'll be like a palace!