When to get homebuyers survey done?

FTB_Help

I was in the same boat, but not in a massive rush as i can't exchange till end of feb, my mortgage offer was fairly quick, but like others have said, shop around for surveyors now, i decided to wait for my mortgage offer before booking in a survey and ended up scrambling around calling loads of surveyors for availabilities, most gave me a wait time of about a month, which i didn't want to wait that long as i did not want to start all the costly legal work, only to find something massively wrong in the surveys, so shop around now and book one in, if you don't get mortgage approved then the survey will just have to be a sunk cost

NewHouse86

Thank you all so much for your advice and your experiences. I have booked and paid with a firm who’s wait time is approx 4 weeks. My lender valuation is on the 2/12 so that works out good timing for me to get a decision back on the mortgage just before the survey goes ahead. If I cancel with 48 hours notice I can get back the cost of the survey minus £90 so if the mortgage is declined I won’t lose all my money. I’m happy with that. 

bannanna

NewHouse86 said:

bannanna said:

Hello Newhouse. Sorry not to be much help, but I'm in the exact same position and would love to hear what the hive mind thinks! Out of interest,  when did you put in a full mortgage application and how far down the line are you after instructing your solicitor?

Applied through NatWest without a broker, submitted application on 30/10, documents requested 02/11, documents sent 03/11, documents viewed 13/11, additional documents requested 16/11, valuation booked for 23/11. Struggling a bit to supply them with the additionsl documents they need as they want proof from a solicitor that I’m using a help to buy ISA even though my help to buy ISA is with NatWest them self. 

Thats very odd, one hand not knowing what the other is doing...! Have you posted on the mortgage broker thread on the Mortgages board - you might get some good advice on there. 
Some really helpful comments on this thread which I will definitely consider too! Day off tomorrow- time to ring around some surveyors and get booked in. Definitely going to apply the same logic as you to the situation.  Good luck!

Thrugelmir

NewHouse86 said:

bannanna said:

Hello Newhouse. Sorry not to be much help, but I'm in the exact same position and would love to hear what the hive mind thinks! Out of interest,  when did you put in a full mortgage application and how far down the line are you after instructing your solicitor?

Applied through NatWest without a broker, submitted application on 30/10, documents requested 02/11, documents sent 03/11, documents viewed 13/11, additional documents requested 16/11, valuation booked for 23/11. Struggling a bit to supply them with the additionsl documents they need as they want proof from a solicitor that I’m using a help to buy ISA even though my help to buy ISA is with NatWest them self. 

Have you selected a solicitor yet ? 

NewHouse86

Thrugelmir said:

NewHouse86 said:

bannanna said:

Hello Newhouse. Sorry not to be much help, but I'm in the exact same position and would love to hear what the hive mind thinks! Out of interest,  when did you put in a full mortgage application and how far down the line are you after instructing your solicitor?

Applied through NatWest without a broker, submitted application on 30/10, documents requested 02/11, documents sent 03/11, documents viewed 13/11, additional documents requested 16/11, valuation booked for 23/11. Struggling a bit to supply them with the additionsl documents they need as they want proof from a solicitor that I’m using a help to buy ISA even though my help to buy ISA is with NatWest them self. 

Have you selected a solicitor yet ? 

Yes, solicitor selected, searches underway. 

NewHouse86

bannanna said:

NewHouse86 said:

bannanna said:

Hello Newhouse. Sorry not to be much help, but I'm in the exact same position and would love to hear what the hive mind thinks! Out of interest,  when did you put in a full mortgage application and how far down the line are you after instructing your solicitor?

Applied through NatWest without a broker, submitted application on 30/10, documents requested 02/11, documents sent 03/11, documents viewed 13/11, additional documents requested 16/11, valuation booked for 23/11. Struggling a bit to supply them with the additionsl documents they need as they want proof from a solicitor that I’m using a help to buy ISA even though my help to buy ISA is with NatWest them self. 

Thats very odd, one hand not knowing what the other is doing...! Have you posted on the mortgage broker thread on the Mortgages board - you might get some good advice on there. 
Some really helpful comments on this thread which I will definitely consider too! Day off tomorrow- time to ring around some surveyors and get booked in. Definitely going to apply the same logic as you to the situation.  Good luck!

I’m a bit disappointed with NatWest as they are trying to tell me the help to buy ISA doesn’t work how I think it does. But I know they are wrong. I have today sent them screen shots of the gov.uk website and an article from this website that states how the ISA works and that I do not need to have my solicitor offer them
a letter. My solicitor has said she will write a letter detailing how they are wrong if I want her to! She’s a sound woman!