Buyer's surveyor gave us his findings and they're inaccurate/exaggerated

Section62

Tempestina said:

Oh, is that a natural part of level 2 surveys? I'm happy to adjust my expectations going forward if conducting an interview and providing their feedback to the vendor directly before even sharing with their client is common place!

No, it isn't common.  Most surveyors want to get out ASAP so they can get on to the next job, and don't want to risk wasting their time arguing with a vendor who is convinced they know how to do the surveyor's job better than they do.  It can be difficult for vendors to hear criticism of their home, but that is what surveyors are employed to do.

This is an unfortunate aspect of modern approaches to house selling, and to experts in general.  That a property professional is willing to spend their time explaining the issues they have identified would once have been considered invaluable. If the vendor knows about the problem they can do something to fix it.  If instead it will be taken as a measure of incompetence or lack of professionalism then no wonder most surveyors just want to get out of there ASAP.

youth_leader

I am so very sorry, it is very stressful. 

If you do want to move, it might be worth spending the money on your own RCIS survey and you could selectively share various parts of it.  

Tempestina

I think if we went down that road we might as well throw the extra £500 at it and have a structural to hope this would confirm the cracked pointing is down to a window that didn't have a lintel previous to us having the new windows fit and adding it on the insistence of the window company while they fit our new windows. These buyers did ask if they could have someone around to do checks that would involve drilling multiple holes into the house, I'm not sure if that is a typical part of a structural survey or not, but I declined this as they would be in charge of selecting someone to drill multiple holes into my house without any real responsibility to make sure whatever damage this caused was repaired to a good standard. 

smipsy

Holes are usually drilled because there is a doubt about some kind of structural problem. Whilst you may disagree that this exists, clearly the surveyor and the buyer have those doubts.

Most sellers do not agree to holes being drilled, which is a matter for a different discussion. But it does actually happen.

In all blunt honesty, I think you should just not sell and stay where you are. You seem unwilling to accept that there MAY be (not IS) a problem with your house. This will carry over if you keep on trying to sell. For all we know, there may actually be a problem with your house, but as the homeowner you are not being objective and don't see it. Equally possible that you are right and everyone else is wrong. Not a great situation to be in, no doubt.

If you don't have to move, I would just save myself all the hassle and pull out of the process completely.

youth_leader

If you are going to go onto the market immediately,  so your results are completely up to date and current,  I do think it would be worth it for peace of mind. 

My husband died in 2016 and I paid for a RCIS L3 survey in 2017 on our grade II listed to see if I could afford to stay there.  Sadly too many problems and I was scared as it is a criminal offence to allow a listed to fall into disrepair, and we started having very severe gales up here.  I knew the roofs needed urgent maintenance, as well as two of the eight chimneys.  I also knew the windows had dry rot, and the window sills had actually fallen off from my daughter's bedroom and the bathroom.  I had to get this fixed as the glass was only held in on the sides, bedroom and bathroom were freezing.  A carpenter and scaffolding cost over £2k. So very lucky it didn't need listed building consent.

I went on the market a year after my survey, so it wasn't current.  I gave the survey to my original sole agent EA to help her answer questions during the viewings.  I couldn't believe it when I discovered she had been copying it for every viewer - so awkward as I know my surveyor well.  I'd wondered why all feedback had been 'too much work'.  I left her and went to a larger chain EA, and had an offer from a mortgage buyer.  He, like me, had a six hour L3 survey which he used to knock £50K off the price, and he continued to chip at it.  I remember being extremely irritated by the women in the estate agent's office repeating his 'so many beetles' line about ten times during the negotiations.  I was confident we were woodworm free.  In the end he was asking for money off for ridiculous quotes for work that could be seen when viewing.  As an older widowed women I felt exasperated at his business negotiations and felt so uneasy he was trying to get the house for such a low price.  I left the EA and the sale and went to auction where most unfortunately,  his was the highest bid.  I had to settle for so much less but it was just enough for me to buy another smaller property.  My freedom from the worry was priceless.