Do I need a surveyor? If so which kind?

[dalston]

I am looking to purchase a 1 bedroom flat in a block of flats built in London in 1990. It has previously had only one owner, who seems like a decent enough person.

Whilst hoping to spend as little as possible on the exchange I also want peace of mind, i.e. to know for certain that what I buy is sound and safe. I don't need a survey to assess price/value, as two different banks have already sent their surveyors around and OK'd the asking price.
I guess what I am after is someone to look at electrics, gas, potential leaks etc. (Feel free to suggest issues I should look into) Seeing as it is a tiny flat on the first floor of a three storey building, I cannot imagine there would be "structural" problems.

Could you advice me on what I need? And how much I ought to pay?

Also, perhaps I don't need a surveyor at all, but that there might exist a legal document the seller can sign that leaves him liable for anything dodgy that might come up post purchase?

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

You will find with most surveys and reports will not test your services for faults or potential dangers.
You generally get an overall summary of condition of property.
An efficiency rating
An overall conditional report on services, but this will be visual inspection only.
They may identify risks to the building/grounds/occupants. This could flag up problems such as flooding, the presence of asbestos, the safety of glazing to doors.
If this is a concern you could have reports down by an electrician, periodic inspection report (PIR), this should really be done and is recommend when the property has a change of occupancy, but very rarely happens and is about time it became a legal requirement.
Also a gas engineer could do a service to the gas appliances.
A PIR could cost about £100-150 for a small property.
I would guess the gas service would depend on the number of gas appliances.
You could suggest to the vender, that these are carried out as part of the sale price!

 

[dalston]

Excellent, keep the answers coming!

I have contacted an acquaintance in the trade to see if he can do a RIP on the electrical stuff.
Will a gas engineer check the gas stuff?
And should I get a plumber to look at things before I buy?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

If I was a seller and in a strong position I'd tell you where to get off! Its not a new house FFS.

 

[^woody^]

I don't know exactly what could have gone wrong with the services in a 20 year old flat, and not be obvious

Your offer price should include for any tests or services which you may want

You seem to have decided that you don't need a surveyor, so you must have already looked at the internal arrangement in terms of fire spread and means of escape, security arrangement, the implications of any internal defects or external ones likely to be chargeable - ie external repairs including the roof covering.

And you surely can't think that any seller is going to be responsible for anything that goes wrong with a property he has sold to you, do you?

 

[BigRobCanUFixIt]

Your mortgage lender will insist that a valuation survey is done, and if you want a homebuyers survey done you can get the same surveyor to do this. you will have to pay for it. and then interpret there findings how you want. If you want a full structural survey you will have to pay more, and the home owner will have to agree to alow this to take place as sometimes they may need to remove stuff to be able to inspect.

We had a homebuyers done 2 years ago, it cost us a few hundered quid, and did point out some useful stuff to us. For instance the water tank in the loft didnt have a lid on it. and it was sitting on chipboard that could of crumbled if there was a leak and things like that. There were always disclaimers to the heating, gas, electrics and drainage etc saying it all seemed fine but they would recommend it was checked by an expert etc.

Since we have moved in we have changed little of the things raised as concerns in the survey as they werent that dier...

Although I wish I had gone ahead with a survey of the drainiage as we have had issued with a public sewer within our boundaries that may have been raised, But its very unlikely it would of put us off purchasing.

I think our valuation survey was 300 and the home buyer was an extra 100quid which I think was reasonable. considering we had to have the valuation done anyway.

 

[Nige F]

I am looking to purchase a 1 bedroom flat in a block of flats built in London in 1990. ?

Never mind the structure - find out the cost of maintenance / groundrent /who the landlord is / how long the lease is left to run - That`s what will stuff you more than any structure /services issues