Home buyers report or basic valuation

Ellejaypea

Hello, I'm a first time buyer, buying a circa 1950s detached house. The house itself seems to be in pretty good condition, electrics have been done recently, along with a new boiler. However, the boiler installation seems to have messed up the brickwork (seen on the outside of the utility/garage) and there seems to be some damp on the wall the boiler is installed on. Also at the back of the house the windows need replacing, the putty is cracked and the wooden sills are crumbling at the edges (this is not an issue as we are planning on doing an extension anyhow).

My mortgage offers a free valuation and would charge over £500 for a homebuyers report, is it worth paying out for the homebuyers report? I've seen so much conflicting advice online that it's starting to make my head hurt.

Finchy2018

You can source your own surveyor you don't have to use the bank.

We didn't go for a homebuyers, but there was nothing glaringly obviously wrong and I was prepared for things to need money spent on them such as new boiler etc.

Mutton_Geoff

Ellejaypea wrote: »

Hello, I'm a first time buyer, buying a circa 1950s detached house. The house itself seems to be in pretty good condition, electrics have been done recently, along with a new boiler. However, the boiler installation seems to have messed up the brickwork (seen on the outside of the utility/garage) and there seems to be some damp on the wall the boiler is installed on. Also at the back of the house the windows need replacing, the putty is cracked and the wooden sills are crumbling at the edges (this is not an issue as we are planning on doing an extension anyhow).

My mortgage offers a free valuation and would charge over £500 for a homebuyers report, is it worth paying out for the homebuyers report? I've seen so much conflicting advice online that it's starting to make my head hurt.

I'd definitely go for the best survey the bank can offer, or commission your own. A 1950s house could certainly hide a multitude of horrors and it's important to be aware of them, even if only to improve your negotiating position, after all, most offers are "subject to survey".

Finchy2018 wrote: »

You can source your own surveyor you don't have to use the bank

If you do this, you need to make sure your appointed surveyor is on the banks panel. If not, you'll be paying for your own survey whilst the bank will still send their own valuer. Often topping up the survey to a better one is cheaper via the bank given they have to send someone anyway.

Slithery

Mutton_Geoff wrote: »

If you do this, you need to make sure your appointed surveyor is on the banks panel. If not, you'll be paying for your own survey whilst the bank will still send their own valuer. Often topping up the survey to a better one is cheaper via the bank given they have to send someone anyway.

Cheaper, yes. But not necessarily a better idea.

If you get an upgrade to the lenders valuation then they are legally obliged to report all findings to the lender as well. Whereas if you commission your own survey independent of your lender then they will only report any issues to you.

Cakeguts

How much is the £500 pounds compared to the risk of the money that you are paying for the house?

jamesperrett

Ellejaypea wrote: »

My mortgage offers a free valuation and would charge over £500 for a homebuyers report, is it worth paying out for the homebuyers report?

That's not a particularly good deal on the Homebuyers Report unless you are buying a very expensive house. You are basically paying full price for the Homebuyers Report and, from hard experience, I would prefer to pay an independent local surveyor to do the survey rather than the large firm that the bank will use.

sillyhilly

Having purchased a 1960s house and having a Homebuyers Report completed, my opinion is that it is hugely overpriced for what it actually is - although it can be valuable for added peace of mind.

The problems that we have had wouldn't have been checked (electrics and water leak) and generally, it picked up on things that were obvious. In future, I'd probably commission an electrician or builder rather than a Homebuyers Report.

However, if I were in your shoes and I have identified potential damp and dodgy brickwork, I would probably have one done. Our property was, overall, in good condition - it was the hidden things that were the issue. If you're seeing potential damp, the costs of fixing would far outweigh a small £500 outlay.

SouthLondonUser

Bear in mind that surveyors carry out visual inspections.

Their reports are much less useful than many first-time-buyers think - they're full of caveats like "it seems that ... but I can't rule out that...".

In fairness, there is only so much insight a visual inspection can provide. Having absolute certainty on a number of things can be expensive if not outright impossible; for example, depending on the building, determining with certainty if there is dampness under the floor can be a disruptive process which may involve damaging the property - something which, understandably, not every seller would agree to.

walwyn1978

Either absolute basic report or what used to be known as a full survey.

Basic if you’re confident you can spot stuff, full survey if you want someone else to spot as much as they can for you.

The homebuyers is the worst of both worlds as it doesn’t do that much detail yet costs a lot more than basic.

YMMV obviously but if you’re looking at paying £500 for homebuyers (which seems very high btw) you might as well go all out and pay an extra £125-200 for a report with more detail in. You’ll still get all the stuff about electricals anyway, mind....

earthgirl397

I'm a second stepper and didn't get a report on my first house. A 1900s build. My solicitor, old school and pragmatic advised me that they often do more harm than good with older properties, identifying issues that would scare you into not buying and have a low risk of occurrence.

Now about to buy a 1960's semi i'm thinking i'll go the route of no survey again as all I really want to know is if my property needs a rewire which no report will tell me, as nothing is lifted or opened, ie consumer unit / fuse box upon a visual inspection! so I cannot see i'll gain anything from it. The house is structurally sound with no damp. I'd rather save my £500 and give it to the electrician That i'm going to need to actually physically check the elecs.

You just have to weigh up the risk. My property has been heavily discounted anyway so I cannot hope to negotiate price down further. The point is you don't legally need to commison your own survey to go ahead with the sale. Keep in mind to keep a pot back for surprises once you start to uncover walls and lift floorboards etc. And.. I don't believe there is a report that exists that goes into that level of intrusion to get you the nitty gritty detail you are looking for. Therefore no benefit to having one in my opinion.

Take out good quality home insurance like admiral platinum policy once you move in, they have been a real send from heaven in terms of fixing issues in property caused by water damage and leakage when taking off rads etc.

SouthLondonUser

I disagree with this approach in the strongest possible way.
I do have a couple of friends who walked away from properties because the visual inspection of their surveyor pointed out flaws which they had missed.

Well, the OP has heard contrasting opinions and can make up his/her own mind.