Second survey?

GN2020

Morning everyone,

I couldn’t find another thread like this which could answer my question so started a new one. 

Keeping this as brief as possible, my partner and I are FTB, we put an offer in on a house in September 2020, survey done in November 2020 and mortgage offer approved in December 2020. 

The owner, very sadly, passed away in January 2021 and it’s gone to probate. 

The solicitors say probate should come through soon (fingers crossed) as we’ve been told the estate was very straightforward, no IHT issues etc and the family do want to sell the house. 

All the legal stuff is sorted out but, notwithstanding the fact that our mortgage offer expires in June and we will have to reapply if we don’t complete by then (eek!), I was just wondering if anyone thinks it would be worth having a second survey done on the property. 

The first survey showed up a couple of very minor things that I’d already picked up on anyway when we viewed the house on the two viewings we conducted, but there was nothing bad, major or anything that caused any concern. 

Just due to lack of house buying experience I’m not sure if we should get another one done so I was hoping someone more experienced could offer some advice.

Thank you  

Irishpearce26

Firstly you should be able to get an extension on your mortgage offer (get in touch with your lender or broker asap).

Secondly I wouldn't bother with another survey as nothing significant will have changed in the time between and you can use the money saved to sort the minor things you mention. Maybe see if there is anything that the sellers could include in the sale such as appliances etc to save them having to clear them out?

GN2020

Irishpearce26 said:

Firstly you should be able to get an extension on your mortgage offer (get in touch with your lender or broker asap).

Secondly I wouldn't bother with another survey as nothing significant will have changed in the time between and you can use the money saved to sort the minor things you mention. Maybe see if there is anything that the sellers could include in the sale such as appliances etc to save them having to clear them out?

Thanks ever so much for your reply 😊

Nationwide will only give us until June the 17th unfortunately.
It officially expires on June the 2nd but I got in touch with our broker last week and he spoke with them about it. Apparently, all lenders are doing the same now, their view is that they’ve allowed 6 months and it’s plenty of time to sort things out. 

Even in these circumstances they won’t extend it. 

It’s so frustrating in all honesty but we’re preparing for the fact we might have to reapply. 

I’m not worried about it being declined or anything like that, it’s just the hassle of having to go through everything again and it’ll be sods law that the probate will come through the day before or something. 

But, if I look at the positives, we might end up with a better deal!  
We’re just getting really itchy feet to move in now 🤣

The house is almost empty but the sellers have very kindly said that they’ll leave the (almost) brand new washing machine and tumble dryer! Which is a massive help to us  

Redwino222

Why did it it take from sept to December to get the mortgage offer? Four months is incredibly long, where there significant issues which could delay you again? 

GN2020

Redwino222 said:

Why did it it take from sept to December to get the mortgage offer? Four months is incredibly long, where there significant issues which could delay you again? 

It was just the amount of time nationwide were taking as they were swamped with applications. At the time they were the only ones doing the 90% LTV mortgages so they were inundated and took an absolute age to deal with everyone’s applications. 

Fortunately, our broker said that because all lenders are now doing the 90% LTV, the timescales have been drastically reduced. 

Sunsaru

My mortgage expired during my purchase. Had a new one sorted within 4 days AND at a better rate so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Wouldn't bother with a second survey. Nothing major (or even minor) should have changed since the first one unless you're very unlucky.

AnotherJoe

Theres literally no point having another survey that covers same ground as the first one.

If there are one or two minor things that bother you (and what house wont have that?) ask to go and see it again to check those out or if they require specialist looking at (electrics maybe?) get a specialist in though it doesn't seem like thats your issue, just nerves? MY daughter hada surbey which basically told them nothing they didnt know and missed a bunch of small thinsg taht needed money spending on them - taps, boiler, radiator, etc. Nothing major. Doing it twice wouldnt have helped and you ahve to be realistic, if itsa probate property with likely stuff thats not been changed for 20 or 30 years be prepared for a lot of mundane things like that.

AdrianC

I'm going to be less absolutist than the others.

Why do you think a second survey's needed?
What do you think it'll uncover that the first missed?
What do you think has deteriorated in the house in the last six months?

If you think there's a real risk, then feel free to fill your boots. A survey is cheap comfort.

Of course, a vendor may well think you were taking the mick mightily if you then tried to use that survey to reduce the agreed price at this stage, unless there was a VERY good reason...

GN2020

AnotherJoe said:

Theres literally no point having another survey that covers same ground as the first one.

If there are one or two minor things that bother you (and what house wont have that?) ask to go and see it again to check those out or if they require specialist looking at (electrics maybe?) get a specialist in though it doesn't seem like thats your issue, just nerves? MY daughter hada surbey which basically told them nothing they didnt know and missed a bunch of small thinsg taht needed money spending on them - taps, boiler, radiator, etc. Nothing major. Doing it twice wouldnt have helped and you ahve to be realistic, if itsa probate property with likely stuff thats not been changed for 20 or 30 years be prepared for a lot of mundane things like that.

We’re fortunate that the house is only 13 years old so the stuff that was picked up on, I completely expected but it’s nothing that caused any worry or concern. 

And it was only minor things like, there was a hairline crack on the bathroom tiled floor, a slight chip on the kitchen worktop, a broken gate at the side of the house - very very minor things. 

Just wasn’t sure whether it was worth having a second one done as it’s been 6 months since the last one is all. It’s just because neither of us have bought a house before so just inexperience really 😊

You’re right though, another viewing will be fine 😊

GN2020

AdrianC said:

I'm going to be less absolutist than the others.

Why do you think a second survey's needed?
What do you think it'll uncover that the first missed?
What do you think has deteriorated in the house in the last six months?

If you think there's a real risk, then feel free to fill your boots. A survey is cheap comfort.

Of course, a vendor may well think you were taking the mick mightily if you then tried to use that survey to reduce the agreed price at this stage, unless there was a VERY good reason...

In all honesty, it was solely because neither of us have ever bought a house before, I just wasn’t sure whether it would be worthwhile to get another survey done or not. 

There’s nothing at all in the last one that rang any alarm bells - just inexperience at buying a home is all 😊

GN2020

Sunsaru said:

My mortgage expired during my purchase. Had a new one sorted within 4 days AND at a better rate so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Wouldn't bother with a second survey. Nothing major (or even minor) should have changed since the first one unless you're very unlucky.

Yeah, our broker said if we have to reapply it’s likely we’d get a better deal anyway so it wouldn’t be a bad thing 😊
Just want to move now, where we are at the moment has ran it’s course and we’re ready to move and start a new chapter. 

Feel a bit silly now even wondering about it after reading the advice on here. 

Another visit just before exchange should do the trick I reckon 😊