Building survey for top floor flat

cherry76

Interesting to buy a flat in London.  Do I get the EA  surveyor or get an independent RIC one?  How this will work as he will only be able to access the top floor and I will be paying for a building surveyor?  Thanks

princeofpounds

The EA's surveyor will be a RICS one, and will be 'independent'. (I use quotation marks entirely intentionally!).

Generally-speaking you are better off getting one that doesn't have split allegiances and getting a really independent surveyor. Most EA-aligned surveyors will be ok but there's always that risk that they gloss over something to avoid the transaction being disrupted.

I believe that a survey on a flat will include a visual inspection of the overall building but it will, due to size and access issues, may well be rather superficial. Plus you don't have responsibility for the building as a leaseholder (though you ultimately have to bear the cost of any maintenance of course).

Not many people get full building surveys on flats. You would get notification of any major problems from a homebuyer's survey; the inspection is similar, it's the report that's different. What a full survey might do for you is give more of a sense of the condition of the building and that could indicate if any major works are likely in the near future.