How important is a survey?

trailingspouse

In the past, I've always had a Home Buyers survey carried out when buying a property, as I've always had a mortgage. This time I'm buying without a mortgage. Obviously I feel that I should probably have a survey done anyway - but surveys in the past have never told me anything I wasn't already aware of ('There's a crack...'). I've renovated four houses, so I know a bit about it.

I'm buying a well-maintained house that is only about 20 years old - on a scale of 1 - 10, how essential would it be to have a survey done? I suspect the cost of the survey will be higher than any potential work that might need doing, so is it worth it?

PollyWollyDoodle

I wouldn’t risk it without. The chances are there isn’t anything seriously wrong, but if there is something like subsidence you wouldn’t necessarily spot it at first view. 

I think I paid £600 for mine – again, a relatively modern house that has mostly been looked after. Nothing dramatic came up but it has given me a list of jobs to do, from getting some roof tiles re-cemented to getting water tanks flushed out, both of those things that I wouldn’t have known were needed. 

TheJP

With the 2 properties i have bought I haven't had a survey carried out because the houses were 20 years old and nothing concerned me during my viewings. Having a survey carried out because you have a mortgage is irrelevant or part of the application. 

youth_leader

I was a cash buyer and had a full structural on my bungalow for peace of mind, but it was built in the 30's,  so a lot older.  I spent the £600 because a cash buyer friend also bought a bungalow and didn't have a survey.   A few months after completion she couldn't get in the front door one day and rang a locksmith.  Unfortunately it wasn't the lock, the whole door had dropped through subsidence and she had an expensive underpinning bill. She hadn't noticed anything when she viewed the property.

babyblade41

I don't do a survey as I've been buying and selling properties for many years .. I tend to know what I'm looking at on first viewing, if something doesn't look right I tend to walk away or if it's something that may be OK then I get  someone I know to have a quick look at it with me .
For inexperienced people then a survey is always a good idea 

RS2OOO

I've definitely had surveys in the past that were a complete waste of money and contemplated not having one on the current ongoing purchase but since this is the most  I've ever spent on a house by far I did eventually decide to have one.

Like yourself I'm pretty DIY savvy, but;
Could I easily identify movement/subsidence/heave/landslip without professional advice? No.
Could I easily identify structural issues in the roof or determine if any signs of water ingress were historic, current, serious or urgent? Probably not.

But most other things I thought I'd be confident about.

This recent survey picked up some items I'd not noticed and also gave causes for faults I had noticed but these causes were different to what I had suspected, so this survey will have saved me time and money against fixing the "wrong" things. These items were;

Roof verge faults likely to lead to water ingress under certain wind conditions - This could not have been identified by me from the ground as surveyor sent a drone up.

Rising Damp caused by conservatory DPM not being lapped into house DPC - I thought the damp was caused by the leaky conservatory gutter, surveyor said definitely not.

Electric Garage door not working - On our first viewing the estate agent said they didn't have garage remote fob so we couldn't view inside. On 2nd viewing we specifically asked to view inside and on arrival at the property the garage door was already opened for us to view inside and obviously we therefore assumed it worked. Surveyor said the whole lot needs replacing and whoever opened it for our viewing will have had great difficulty in doing so. Estimates to replace have come to circa £2000.

All of the above faults were identified on an extended part of the property and an outbuilding that are 15 - 20 years old.

So, my opinion towards the value of a survey has changed, but only if you get a good surveyor as I did this time around.

canaldumidi

If you are confidant in your ability to identify all the areas that need repair/replacement, and can assess the seriousness of those areas plus estimate the associated likely cost, then you don't need a survey.

A survey should highlight any major problem that might cause you to withdraw, or, more commonly, will provide you with a useful 'to do' list of improvements.

Up to you!

pinkshoes

The person that bought our 1970s semi paid over £1000 for a survey. The guy spent about 2.5 hours poking round the house and writing notes, but he did NOT move any furniture, lift anything, look under anything etc... all observations were just from standing and looking.

For £1000+ they were told nothing they couldn't have found themselves by making the same observations.

On that basis, we didn't get a survey on the 1980s detached house we bought. We found a checklist online and went through it ourselves.

The only thing we missed was there being no thermostat for the boiler (so no control of hot water and heating, other than on or off). I'm not sure the survey would have picked that up.

trailingspouse

That's great!! I was expecting a huge pile-on of people saying 'Of course you have to have a survey, you idiot'.

I may decide to get one done, but just wanted to gauge opinion as to how essential it really was.

pinkshoes - where did you find the checklist? I'm going to see the property again in November, so could use it then!

pinkshoes

@trailingspouse we used something similar to this:

https://www.rics.org/globalassets/rics-website/media/upholding-professional-standards/sector-standards/building-surveying/condition-report-practice-note-1st-edition-rics.pdf

(see page 29 onwards)

We just worked through the list and checked everything it suggested. Same as our buyers paid £1000+ for!

trailingspouse

That's brilliant pink, thank you so much. I can answer many of the questions already, from my initial viewing, and I'll take the check list with me when I go again in November. And the +/- £450 + VAT that I would have spent will come in handy for something else!!