Homebuyers Survey Results

sofie2007

I've received the level 2 report from my surveyor on the house I am purchasing. The report is incredibly brief, with no photos. For example they have said that there appears to be a small crack with structural repairs done, but doesn't specify where the crack is or what the repairs are. They have said the upstairs doors are defective and therefore must be put as a '3', but doesn't state why. They have said there is Artex on a few of the ceilings, but doesn't say which ones. There are lots more examples.

I emailed the company and asked for the surveyor to call me. He elaborated on the phone (apparently he put that the upstairs doors are defective because they have hooks on the back for dressing gowns etc).

I asked him to put what he had said to me on the phone in to an email so that I could put it with the report and he refused. He suggested that I was a first time buyer which is why I needed him to elaborate (I'm not).

I purchased my first house 15 years ago and to be honest I can't really remember what was in the report so I would like to get peoples opinions on the above. Thank you!

donutandbeer

Our level 2 survey has a separate price for photos (if applicable), and you can choose to opt out for photos. What did your contract with them say about what’s included in the survey? From what you are saying, the surveyor sounds awful, unfortunately if that’s what they say they will produce in the contract then I guess there’s not much you can do, other than paying for another survey (from a different surveyor!).

RyanPugh

We had a Level 2 report done, was over 70 pages and fairly detailed - we had some photos included as well.
Level 2 reports are obviously not on the level of detail as a Level 3 report, however they shouldn't be as vague as you're describing here.
They should definitely be telling you where cracks are, he doesn't sound very good.
We used Cosey Homes which cover most of England, and would highly recommend them if you end up using a different surveyor.

biscan25

We used an independent local sole trader. We paid just £380 for our survey, on a £400k 3 bedroom house in SE London. 
This included a very extensive and scary report, with about 30 annotated photos. The follow up call was very useful and outlined which parts of the report were failures due to compliance reasons, e.g. a damp wall reading, artex, electrics not 18th edition etc, and which actually needed remedial work.

The surveyor did also pick up a water noise in the bathroom wall which was very concerning, but couldn't work out what it was. We rushed to the EA and went to view the property again, turns out it was a leaking stopcock! Delayed exchange by a month, but no permanent damage done. If we didn't do the survey, and only noticed the leak on the final pre-exchange visit, then the house would've been extensively damaged, so money well spent!

We did get several other quotes from others, but they tended to charge for extras which I presumed would be standard, such as photos. Standard quotes ranged from £380 to £525.