Misrepresention - Unofficial Survey

Moonlightfaery

Hello, 

Just out of curiosity, is it legal to have a survey done on the house you’re wanting to buy? As a mates favour. So no report from it officially. 

As the seller of the house, we were expecting an official surveyor (we’re not questioning if he’s qualified but assume he is) but have since found out it was a mates favour. We have confirmation to say such and such is coming to this property, from such a company. Is this not misrepresentation? 

user1977

Misrepresenting what to whom? I'm not sure what your concern is as a seller, it's up to a buyer who (if anybody) they get to give them advice. Are you saying he's not who he said he was at all?

Moonlightfaery

I guess misrepresenting his company as he is not doing the job officially on the books. 

We can only assume he was a chartered surveyor, and his confirmation stated “from X company). So our assumption was we were letting in somebody from a company. 

EssexHebridean

Apologies - I'm not quite sure what you're asking. 

Are you saying that the surveyor employed by your buyer to carry out their survey of the property they are buying from you was a friend of theirs, and perhaps did it for no fee in exchange for giving an informal, verbal report?  Allowing that there is no specific requirement for any buyer to get a "survey" anyway - if they are getting a mortgage them the lender will carry out a valuation survey in most cases but that is different - I'm not really sure where you feel there is an issue. 

Can you elaborate a bit do you think, so we can better understand what your concerns are? 

propertyrental

f the buyer wants to do a 'survey' (ie inspecting the property in detail) himself, he can. If he wants to bring his dad who has some knowledge of properties, he can. If he wants to get his mate who's a builder he can. If he wants to get his chwawa to take a look and bark at any issues he can (assuming you don't have a 'no dogs' policy.

It would only be misrepresentation if the mate (or whoever) claimed to be an RICS surveyor but wasn't.

But even then, as the survey is for the buyer's benefit (and at the buyer's cost if being paid for) it would be misrepresentation to the buyer, not the seller.

As seller, you could, of course, refuse access to whoever it is, for any or no reason, though that is hardly likely to help you sell your property!

MikeJXE

Moonlightfaery said:

I guess misrepresenting his company as he is not doing the job officially on the books. 

We can only assume he was a chartered surveyor, and his confirmation stated “from X company). So our assumption was we were letting in somebody from a company. 

So you are getting someone in from a company but, because the someone is a friend or maybe a relative he is doing it for free as a favour to your buyer 

it's no different than sending your uncle to look at a property for you because he knows more about what to look for than you do. 

It's no big deal 

EssexHebridean

If you're concerned that this might be some sort of scam designed to let a stranger into your home, then I'd check out the company name - does that stack up? Do any emails you're received making the appointment genuinely come from that company? (hover over the sender's email address and note that the details all tally up as they should) If in doubt you could call the company "just to check the time for the appointment" and that should set your mind at rest? 

Moonlightfaery

EssexHebridean said:

Apologies - I'm not quite sure what you're asking. 

Are you saying that the surveyor employed by your buyer to carry out their survey of the property they are buying from you was a friend of theirs, and perhaps did it for no fee in exchange for giving an informal, verbal report?  Allowing that there is no specific requirement for any buyer to get a "survey" anyway - if they are getting a mortgage them the lender will carry out a valuation survey in most cases but that is different - I'm not really sure where you feel there is an issue. 

Can you elaborate a bit do you think, so we can better understand what your concerns are? 

I think perhaps I’m acting too much in the moment here. Starting to get a little stressed over this selling malarkey and getting close to exchanging. Probably doesn’t help I’m miffed over them trying to knock the price down for something aesthetic. 

It was indeed an informal report by a friend who did the survey. Their bank didn’t do a in person survey this time around (our orig buyer did have one but that fell through)

If it’s a non-issue, and everyone’s entitled to send whomever around, then I shall just let it go. 

kingstreet

If there is no 'official' report, your purchaser is going to struggle with an approach for a price reduction, isn't he?

EssexHebridean

Moonlightfaery said:

EssexHebridean said:

Apologies - I'm not quite sure what you're asking. 

Are you saying that the surveyor employed by your buyer to carry out their survey of the property they are buying from you was a friend of theirs, and perhaps did it for no fee in exchange for giving an informal, verbal report?  Allowing that there is no specific requirement for any buyer to get a "survey" anyway - if they are getting a mortgage them the lender will carry out a valuation survey in most cases but that is different - I'm not really sure where you feel there is an issue. 

Can you elaborate a bit do you think, so we can better understand what your concerns are? 

I think perhaps I’m acting too much in the moment here. Starting to get a little stressed over this selling malarkey and getting close to exchanging. Probably doesn’t help I’m miffed over them trying to knock the price down for something aesthetic. 

It was indeed an informal report by a friend who did the survey. Their bank didn’t do a in person survey this time around (our orig buyer did have one but that fell through)

If it’s a non-issue, and everyone’s entitled to send whomever around, then I shall just let it go. 

It's a stressful thing - don't underestimate how small things will play on your mind where in most circumstances you'd just shrug them off! I think you are probably overthinking it - and if the buyers are already being difficult then I can see why you might be concerned.  Would I be right in thinking that it was in your mind whether this was a "fake" surveyor who was subsequently going to claim all sorts wrong with the property to try to knock the price down further?  If this DOES happen it is absolutely reasonable of you to expect to see the report, and to check the credentials of the surveyor, I'd suggest. Hopefully it won't though - and it will turn out that quite simply, as any of us might - they've made sensible use of the "bartering" system. 

user1977

Moonlightfaery said:

I guess misrepresenting his company as he is not doing the job officially on the books. 

If that means your buyer isn't getting a "proper" survey (i.e. one which he could sue the firm for if they were negligent), that's your buyer's problem. It's nothing to do with you.