Can I book a survey?

Jami74

First time buyer, sorry for all the daft questions.

Solicitor has been sent the sales memorandum and Contract Pack by the estate agents. Mortgage application is in process and the lender had a valuation done last week.

I have received quotes from local RICs surveyors and have made my choice. Do I go ahead and book or do I wait for the solicitor or estate agents to tell me when? 

The seller is chain free so I'm hoping things will progress quickly and smoothly.

Hoenir

I'd wait until your hear from the mortgage lender before instructing the RICS surveyor to inspect the property.  Otherwise you could be expending money for no benefit. 

propertyrental

Booking a survey (assuming you decide you want one) is entirely up to you.

Either do so immediately and keep your purchase moving forward or delay and see if other issues arise (legal or mortgage) which cause you to pull out.

The decision is nothing to do with your solicitors or the seller's estate agent.

eddddy

You can ask your chosen survey firm how quickly they do a survey once you instruct them - if it's just a few days, it won't delay things too much if, for example, you wait until the searches are done and/or you've had a mortgage offer.

And/or you can ask them about cancellation fees if, for example, you book a survey now but cancel it later, if your mortgage application is refused.

user1977

Unless you think there's a significant risk of you not getting a mortgage offer, I would just get on with it. One of the reasons the (English) house-buying system is so long-winded seems to be because people are doing all these steps in series - and the longer the process drags on, the more likely it is that something else will throw a spanner in the works...

Albermarle

propertyrental said:

Booking a survey (assuming you decide you want one) is entirely up to you.

Either do so immediately and keep your purchase moving forward or delay and see if other issues arise (legal or mortgage) which cause you to pull out.

The decision is nothing to do with your solicitors or the seller's estate agent.

Maybe a daft comment, but if you just book it without reference to anybody else in the loop, how does the surveyor know when he can get access to the property?

user1977

Albermarle said:

propertyrental said:

Booking a survey (assuming you decide you want one) is entirely up to you.

Either do so immediately and keep your purchase moving forward or delay and see if other issues arise (legal or mortgage) which cause you to pull out.

The decision is nothing to do with your solicitors or the seller's estate agent.

Maybe a daft comment, but if you just book it without reference to anybody else in the loop, how does the surveyor know when he can get access to the property?

The surveyor arranges a time with the estate agent (or vendor). It's not normal for the surveyor's client to do that bit of admin.