Ask sellers for old Home Survey

gab3x

SpiderLegs said:

I think the OP is very wise.
They just want to be 100% certain on 0.08% of their total potential outlay, even if it means they are 0% certain on the other 99.92% 

I am not saying that I am not having any assessment and buying the house blind - what I am saying is that I may value the 2016 survey as giving me a fairly high level of certainty for the investment in 2020 given that houses generally don't decay that fast. 

gettingtheresometime

gab3x said:

Thanks all, lots of good comments.
I am not worried about survey being doctored and fully aware there are no legal guarantees from a surveyor point of view. If there is anything in I don't feel comfortable with I can always commission a new one.
I am paying 600k for the 2 bed house so 0.5k is a 1/1200th of that but I would still rather not spend it unless 100pct necessary. 

I can't believe you'd be prepared to spend that sort of money & not spend a comparatively small amount of money making sure that the house you're buying hasn't got any issues.
Talk about spoiling the ship for a ha'porth of tar.

gab3x

gettingtheresometime said:

gab3x said:

Thanks all, lots of good comments.
I am not worried about survey being doctored and fully aware there are no legal guarantees from a surveyor point of view. If there is anything in I don't feel comfortable with I can always commission a new one.
I am paying 600k for the 2 bed house so 0.5k is a 1/1200th of that but I would still rather not spend it unless 100pct necessary. 

I can't believe you'd be prepared to spend that sort of money & not spend a comparatively small amount of money making sure that the house you're buying hasn't got any issues.

But I am not buying blind am I? I am saying that 2016 Survey might be still valid in 2020 
What critical faults could happen in 4 years time that 2016 survey wouldn't at least hint at? 

Bellsrings

You're paying £600k for a house and are trying to skimp on a £500 survey? You're bonkers (and a tight !!!!!!), wouldn;t you be embarrassed asking them for their survey? I cringe   

gettingtheresometime

gab3x said:

gettingtheresometime said:

gab3x said:

Thanks all, lots of good comments.
I am not worried about survey being doctored and fully aware there are no legal guarantees from a surveyor point of view. If there is anything in I don't feel comfortable with I can always commission a new one.
I am paying 600k for the 2 bed house so 0.5k is a 1/1200th of that but I would still rather not spend it unless 100pct necessary. 

I can't believe you'd be prepared to spend that sort of money & not spend a comparatively small amount of money making sure that the house you're buying hasn't got any issues.

But I am not buying blind am I? I am saying that 2016 Survey might be still valid in 2020 
What critical faults could happen in 4 years time that 2016 survey wouldn't at least hint at? 

I have no idea....I'm not a qualified surveyor.

But I know if I was buying property of any value then I'd want my own survey done unless the purchase price  was such small change that if it fell down around my ears I'd shrug my shoulders & have a good laugh that the gamble hadn't paid off.

If I was your seller a) I would think you were a tightwad b) could  you really afford the property & c) wonder what other moneysaving stunts you'd pull that you'd expect me to pay for

gab3x

Look I asked for advice and not be called bonkers, tightwad etc so tone it down people!!!
I have lived in few places and countries and have done new builds and complete renos (where only outer shell of a house was left). I am not a builder nor an engineer but I can spot issues myself and I will go back to same point I am making which is - what possible critical issue could have happened in 4 years time that previous report wouldn't have at least hinted at???

I am beginning to regret coming here for opinions because what you mostly do is judge and insult rather than opine.

SpiderLegs

We recently had some thankfully minor roof damage caused by a passing storm.
i was furious though as this damage was not mentioned when I had previously had a roofer doing some other work in 2016. 

A few people in the village were not so lucky and were heavily flooded. This is despite no previous floods in the area in many many years. How on earth can this happen???

gab3x

SpiderLegs said:

We recently had some thankfully minor roof damage caused by a passing storm.
i was furious though as this damage was not mentioned when I had previously had a roofer doing some other work in 2016. 

A few people in the village were not so lucky and were heavily flooded. This is despite no previous floods in the area in many many years. How on earth can this happen???

Thanks - that is type of helpful feedback that is making me immediately think I better get that survey done.

AdrianC

gab3x said:

I have lived in few places and countries and have done new builds and complete renos (where only outer shell of a house was left). I am not a builder nor an engineer but I can spot issues myself and I will go back to same point I am making which is - what possible critical issue could have happened in 4 years time that previous report wouldn't have at least hinted at???

You do not need any kind of survey.

Your lender, if any, will insist on a valuation, but that isn't a survey and isn't for your benefit.

If you want to save such a small proportion of the total purchase price, then why not just rely on your own experience?
You can (of course) ask for sight of the vendor's previous survey from when they bought. You can (of course) make whatever inferences you wish from a refusal to provide it - but remember that it can't have brought any showstoppers to light... by definition... else they wouldn't have bought, would they?

But, lack of relevance apart, what does it really add...? It certainly doesn't give you the main benefit of commissioning your own survey, which is the comeback against the surveyor if they miss anything. It isn't even necessarily relevant to the house as it sits now. Yes, there could be significant decay in four years. Or points raised in it may have been addressed.

MCI

If I were the seller I wouldn't give it to you, and that's because in our house we are addressing the points in the survey and having work done based on them. So if we ever sell hopefully the issues mentioned would be long gone and that survey would no longer be accurate.
I also found the valuation to be useful as we bought right around Brexit (exchanged before and completed after). We had to negotiate 5k off based on the price on the valuation and I'm glad we didn't pay over the odds.