Homebuyers survey

jazzyja

Hi, I opted to pay for a home buyers survey for £300 rather than the free survey. I was told it checks for damp etc. Can anyone tell me what else it covers and if me asking for this will make the whole process longer?
Also if anything is found what happens? Thankyou 

amnblog

https://www.rics.org/globalassets/rics-website/media/upholding-professional-standards/sector-standards/building-surveying/homebuyer-report-survey-valuation-report-rics.pdf

MaryNB

jazzyja said:

Hi, I opted to pay for a home buyers survey for £300 rather than the free survey. I was told it checks for damp etc. Can anyone tell me what else it covers and if me asking for this will make the whole process longer?
Also if anything is found what happens? Thankyou 

They may do some high level checks for damp but if they find anything they'll recommend a damp specialist to investigate further. A free survey sounds like it's provided by a company who hope to sell you repair services afterwards. Best to pay for a independent survey. 

A surveyor for a Homebuyers report will check for any visible defects or issues. They'll check the internal and external condition, loft, walls, floors, drainage, guttering, windows, doors etc. They won't check against building regs. They won't start pulling up carpets or moving heavy furniture. They won't check gas or electrical systems because they are not qualified to do so (but it they will be mentioned on the report). They won't do any investigation that risks damaging the property (e.g. removing some render to check brick work or removing laminate to check the floor boards below). 

If anything is found it's up to you to decide if you want to investigate further. The report will list recommendations for further investigation if needs be but the surveyor won't take any further action. You can ask the sellers for more info (e.g. elec or gas certs), get a specialist for the problem areas, ask a tradesperson for quotes etc. Red means it's urgent or condition cannot be confirmed. However, "urgent" might not necessarily mean it needs to be repaired immediately or the house will fall down, I had plenty of "urgent" issues in my house that I've just put on a very long do to list.

Mine came with a valuation that I think is an extra for some people. They'll also tell you roughly how much it will cost to rebuilt the property. 

It will slow down the process if the surveyor is busy. When I was buying the demand was very high and it was taking up a month to get a local surveyor booked in. Ended up using my lender's surveyor and it was over 2 weeks from instruction to getting the survey done. Got the report the same day.