Un-named structural survey?

lookstraightahead

We are in the middle of negotiations with our vendors. One of the things they have said is that they have a full structural survey (not sure if they've seen it?). We said this wouldn't be much use to us and we would need to do our own, but they've said this one hasn't been done for anyone specific - any idea what they mean?

youth_leader

I engaged a surveyor to do a full structural on my house to see if I could afford to stay there, it needed renovation.  Perhaps they've done the same, and asked the surveyor not to name them on it?

tacpot12

There is no reason why you can't see their survey, other than them not being prepared to let you. If they won't share it, it is a red flag for sure, as it means there is something in it that they are hoping that another surveyor will miss. You could suggest to them that this is the only interpretation anyone could put on their decision not to share the report. 

The thing you can't do is rely on their report if you buy the house. It belongs to them, and they have the contractual relationship with the surveyor, so you would not be able to sue their surveyor if they made any sort of mistake that meant you spent money that didn't need spending. 

greatcrested

tacpot12 said:

There is no reason why you can't see their survey, other than them not being prepared to let you. If they won't share it, it is a red flag for sure, as it means there is something in it that they are hoping that another surveyor will miss. You could suggest to them that this is the only interpretation anyone could put on their decision not to share the report.

Seems to be the opposite as I understand it. The vendor is offering to share this survey with the buyer. Presumably to save the buyer money.

No reason not to accept and read it, with the caveat that it canot be legally relied on and might, just might, gloss over something your own survey would show up.

davidmcn

It's possible to have a survey which is for the benefit of whoever the purchaser ends up being (and their lender) without having to be specifically addressed to them - that's how Home Reports work in Scotland. And it's also possible for whoever commissioned the survey to arrange for the surveyors to specifically re-address it to another party. But you need to see it first anyway!

lookstraightahead

davidmcn said:

It's possible to have a survey which is for the benefit of whoever the purchaser ends up being (and their lender) without having to be specifically addressed to them - that's how Home Reports work in Scotland. And it's also possible for whoever commissioned the survey to arrange for the surveyors to specifically re-address it to another party. But you need to see it first anyway!

Thank you - so that would mean it would become "our" survey with the same protection, if it was re-addressed to us? 

lookstraightahead

youth_leader said:

I engaged a surveyor to do a full structural on my house to see if I could afford to stay there, it needed renovation.  Perhaps they've done the same, and asked the surveyor not to name them on it?

Yes it's possibly something like that, just all seems a bit strange.

davidmcn

lookstraightahead said:

davidmcn said:

It's possible to have a survey which is for the benefit of whoever the purchaser ends up being (and their lender) without having to be specifically addressed to them - that's how Home Reports work in Scotland. And it's also possible for whoever commissioned the survey to arrange for the surveyors to specifically re-address it to another party. But you need to see it first anyway!

Thank you - so that would mean it would become "our" survey with the same protection, if it was re-addressed to us? 

Yes. Possibly with the concern that they've cherry-picked a "clean" report for you. But you would still be entitled to sue the surveyor if they've been negligent.

youth_leader

Let us know what happens, I'm intrigued. Perhaps they've had a lot of timewasters.  Initially I went to a small agency and gave them a copy of my survey, to help them answer questions during viewings - the renovations required were obvious ie damp.  Unbelievably they copied it for every viewer, I didn't find out for several months.  If there are problems highlighted in the survey, ask the vendors to get quotes for you.

Robby1988

I suspect the vendors knew the house had some problems so had a pre-sale survey carried out to check the viability of selling for the price they need to get & also for transparency with any forthcoming buyer, to try and speed up the process and nip in the bud quickly anybody who gets freaked by less than perfect surveys.

I would be encouraged by it personally if they are prepared to fully share the report to you & it contains problems they are being upfront about. I can't see why a surveyor would have any reason to lie/be generous with a report just because it's been commissioned by the homeowner, that said I would be suspicious if the report was 'clean'.   I wouldn't worry too much about whether you are in a position to sue the surveyor or not, there are that many caveats and !!!!!! covering statements in these surveys its virtually impossible to get anywhere anyway.

Davesnave

Our vendors said they didn't want us to have a survey, which might have been off-putting, but questioning soon revealed they just wanted to avoid re-negotiation or wobbles further down the road. They were perfectly OK with us bringing in builders to give it the once over before we made a formal offer. Maybe they'd had a bad experience with a survey in the past. It was an odd property, but there was little unsound about it.

If only they'd been as careful with the legal stuff. Our solicitor pulled holes in that!