Homebuyers' report

MLee_3

Hi,

I'm in the process of buying my first house, and want to have a homebuyers' report done on it. The price of the house is £202,000 and my mortgage broker has quoted me £560 for a homebuyers' report (including the standard valuation).

Does this sound like a reasonable price? It sounds quite high to me.

Also, would people advise against using the mortgage company's (A&L)surveyor to do the report? Am I better to get an independent surveyor to do it?

Many thanks for any suggestions.

Sput2001

It seems a little hefty - £300 to £400 would be a more usual cost, unless the property in question is particularly old or unusual.

Getting your lender to do the homebuyers report at the same time as the valuation survey should, if anything, save you some money. Some lenders offer to refund part, or even all, of the cost too. There's nothing to stop you getting a homebuyers report done independently, though, but the mortgage lender will still need the valuation survey which they'll arrange themselves.

Depending on the lender, there's a good chance that the valuation survey will be carried out by an independent surveyor on their behalf, anyway. As long as the surveyors are RICS registered, aside from cost considerations, there shouldn't be any reason why the lender's surveyor will do a significantly bettor or worse job than another one.

nadnad

i got an independant surveyor to do ours and it was £365 2 years ago. Check about for prices in your local area see if this is reasonable.

mimi_money_saver

We are in the same position (just buying first property) We have been quoted £375 for the homebuyers survey from a surveyor that comes on recommendation. We've opted to go for the full building survey though as the place we are buying is fairly old. As the other posters say it depends on area but we are in the South East so I'd expect this to be the higher end in the range of prices.

Fondue_2

That sounds quite steep to me. We were quoted around £350 for a homebuyer's and £500 for full structural survey. This was from our mortgage company's valuers (Countrywide). Does seem to vary according to house price, or at least the valuation survey did, but you are not paying much over us so I wouldn't expect a £150 difference.

However, that should include your valuation so you need to cost up both together if you go independently as you will have to pay the A&L's valuation costs unless refunded with your mortgage as NickMidgley said. I think the choice depends on the state of the house you're buying. We had basic valuation through our lender but then have opted to have (numerous!) other reports done ourselves, as we are hoping to get some further discount on the price and want to be able to talk things through informally with the various companies.

rare_uk

We are buying our house for £201,500 and it cost us £560 for a homebuyer report. So it sounds about right to me. But I am no expert in this department. The surveyor price seems to increase with the house price according to the leaflet I got from our mortgage providor Nationwide.

I didn't know you could use an independent surveyor instead of the one provided by the mortgage provider. Wow you learn something new everyday.

[Deleted User]

We're buying a house for £450K and I paid more than you for my Homebuyer report. I am also with A&L, I am sure they're ripping us off but I didn't know I had a choice....I think I paid nearly £800 for both Homebuyer report and valuation eeekkk!

Poppy9

If possible engage your own surveryor - ask around for recommendations. Then just pay the BS for the basic valuation.

Homebuyers report are usually a load of crap as the surveyors lists everything that is usually wrong with that age of property to cover himself. Commissioning your own independently you can make him work harder for the money and you should ensure he insurance to cover the costs of any faults he misses.

lifesachallenge

https://www.surveyorsreports.co.uk
There are a couple of these types of companies if you do a google search


good luck!