Buying survey off previous buyer

eurobabe

Hi the property we have had our offer accepted on had a previous buyer who dropped out after losing their buyer. The state agent has said that previous buyer is offering us the survey they had done at reduced cost than they paid to recoup so e if their costs. Is this a wise move?it speeds thing up and possibly saves money I'm going to check how much of a saving it is and on the surveying centre company.

ThisIsWeird

Pros - it saves you (and the previous buyer) money.
Cons - it won't be a legally-enforceable document, so you won't be able to hold the surveyor to account if they miss something.
That's my understanding.

A compromise option might be to approach the same surveyor, tell them you know they've carried out a survey already, and whether this could mean a lower price for you. If they say 'non', then go elsewhere to spite them...

Voyager2002

eurobabe said:

Hi the property we have had our offer accepted on had a previous buyer who dropped out after losing their buyer. The state agent has said that previous buyer is offering us the survey they had done at reduced cost than they paid to recoup so e if their costs. Is this a wise move?it speeds thing up and possibly saves money I'm going to check how much of a saving it is and on the surveying centre company.

Are you buying with a mortgage?

If so, you would still need to pay for the mortgage lender's valuation.

pjs493

The previous buyer undoubtedly signed a contract with the surveyor stating they weren’t allowed to sell the survey on. They would have been allowed to share parts of it with interested parties such as the seller and any other contractors they might have considered engaging such as someone assessing the presence of asbestos or a drain survey, but they would have been prohibited from selling it on to you. Whether the surveyor decided to pursue the matter is another question. You’ll unlikely be able to use the survey to cover you for any unforeseen issues or use it to confirm the lack of or presence of any issues. 

eddddy

If you ask the surveyor, they might transfer the survey to you - for a fee.  Then you can rely on it legally.

But the previous buyer would get nothing out of that, so they might not cooperate in telling you who the surveyor is.


Alternatively, you could pay the previous buyer some money for a copy of the survey - but then the previous buyer might be breaching the surveyor's t&cs, and you cant legally rely on the survey.

Bigphil1474

We had a buyer who pull out of buying our house, they emailed us the full survey for free, and we gave that to our second buyers who also had their own survey done anyway. Depends what £ they are asking for IMO. The previous survey is really just for information purposes  so I wouldn't pay a lot for it. It might guide you to whether it's worth getting your own done, and as others have said, the original surveyor might transfer it to you. If for some reason we pulled out of buying the house we are buying, I'd be happy to give the survey doc away, not least for the vendor being messed around.