Worth getting an additional survey or not?

The_Walker

Thanks guys, I decided to go ahead with a Level 2 RICS survey. The house is old, and I'd rather have some peace of mind. I suspect new builds might be in even more danger of faults though haha. But better safe than sorry.

youth_leader

Good decision, I hope it doesn't highlight any expensive works.

A woman on another forum was a cash buyer, so no lender survey,  and she didn't engage a surveyor.  Came home one night and couldn't get the front door open. Rang a locksmith who informed her it wasn't the lock - but the door, which had dropped by inches.  Whole bungalow was sinking, poor woman. 

Noneforit999

The_Walker said:

Thanks guys, I decided to go ahead with a Level 2 RICS survey. The house is old, and I'd rather have some peace of mind. I suspect new builds might be in even more danger of faults though haha. But better safe than sorry.

If its an older house then a survey is a good idea, even if it just gives you peace of mind. Realistically, you should expect a lot of guff in the survey report, stuff like electrics etc being old and advising you get them checked but you may find they spot stuff that you haven't spotted and requires work to be budgeted for in future. Really you are paying them to look for major issues, structural, any damp etc. Anything wear and tear should be expected from an older house and you should have some money put away to remediate these smaller issues, you can't expect an old house to have had everything done, it just doesn't work like that. 

I would bet my life most surveys find more issues with older houses than new builds. Most new builds have snags but few have actual structural issues due to building requirements being far more stringent than they used to be, foundations being deeper etc. The horror stories you hear about new builds are snags, stuff that you probably would expect as part and parcel of buying a 70 year old house but you wouldn't expect on something a few years old.

Chemistry777

We found previously a level 2 survey didn't really give us much as they are not intrusive surveys and largely tell you cosmetic stuff.  Once you have seen these types of surveys you can usually look for yourself.   They will often instruct you to get separate electrical, gas, drain surveys, they may often say things like "may have" damp, structural issues but you should get separate surveys to investigate this.

We knew the property we were buying already needed new concrete floors, had a new kitchen, new roof, new windows, boiler, etc.  It was doubtful anything a level 2 survey found would have put us off, so we just decided to put the money we would have spend on a survey into a pot to actually fix some faults when we moved in.

I can see that other above disagree.   

youth_leader

Just a heads up that my buyer's lender valued my house at £0, and insisted on a damp/timber survey which I was persuaded to pay for for as a gesture of good will.  Thrown out as inappropriate for a heritage property - I had engaged a PCA surveyor as asked by my EA, which I've learnt from this forum was inadvisable as they are sales companies.