House buying; Are building surveys worth having?

[RichD1]

My daughter is about to buy a house which I have personally known for almost 40 years.

The house in question (built in the 1920's) has had very little modifications to it over the years and still has many of the original features like the doors, windows (including stained glass) picture rails and fireplaces and is the main reason why my daughter likes the property. It has been re-wired (in the 90's) and CH added at which time most of the floorboards were replaced with quality T&G not chipboard. It has been maintained properly over the years with good decorations and fittings. The CH boiler and new hot water cylinder was fitted a couple of years ago. There are no cracks in the internal or external walls and there is no subsidence problems in the location.

As I've known the house and the family for almost 40 years I can't see the need to get a building survey especially as they tend to caveat most of their findings due to fear of subsequent claims for negligence.

Am I taking a risk?

Any advice welcomed


Richard

 

[Burnerman]

I think that question is best answered by the firm that you would like to provide your daughter with her mortgage. The principal reason for a survey is to make you aware of any potential problems with the property, and any findings there may affect the lenders opinion. If problems are found then the lender may withhold a percentage of the loan.
If you are going to pay cash, this can be ignored.
Legal searches of course are another issue entirely and it's vital that these take place.
John

 

[^woody^]

A surveyor is engaged to tell you stuff that you don't already know, and may not be aware of in the future. If you already know this stuff, about present and future issues, then a survey will not be of any value.

It's not correct that a survey is caveated to protect against negligence claims. The caveats are their to make the customer aware of the limitations of the survey. If you wanted or needed to, you could remove most of the caveats if you asked and paid for comment on the things caveated.

 

[chappers]

I think you have already answered your question yourself.
Save for a full structural survey, everything else is basically observation and most caveats reflect that, I would say it all depends on how confident you are to assess possible problems and make a judgement on how easy they may be to rectify.
My personal view on homebuyer surveys is that they're not worth the paper they're written on, but that's from the point of view of a builder.

 

[RichD1]

I think that question is best answered by the firm that you would like to provide your daughter with her mortgage. The principal reason for a survey is to make you aware of any potential problems with the property, and any findings there may affect the lenders opinion. If problems are found then the lender may withhold a percentage of the loan.
John

Hi John, I'm only concerned about what's referred to as the Homebuyers Survey not the Mortgage assessment as this is a mandated part of the money offer. In my experience the Mortgage assessment is purely about whether the property is worth the money that we paid for it. The last Mortgage assessment we had was purely a 'drive by', not bad for the £450 charge that is applied.

The last two building surveys that we paid for, the Surveyors didn't even get up in the roof loft!!!

Richard

 

[Burnerman]

I definitely agree....most of the surveys I have come across have been worthless -the surveyor won't lift floor boards or inspect the roof or anything. It's simply a visual check, which may be of value to some but really a joke to those in the know.
As you say, the loan on the property is dependant on whether the mortgage company can see a definite return, which is why the legal search is so important - especially if the property is leasehold or of some unorthodox construction.
Curiously, on my last property purchase (cash) my solicitors asked for documents concerning the new windows and other guarantees of works carried out. I couldn't provide anything of interest, but for the payment of £200, all this was waived!
John

 

[endecotp]

A survey can pay for itself if they find something to complain about and this allows you to negotiate a lower price.

Otherwise, in your circumstances, I'd agree it's not worthwhile.

 

[Doggit]

A structural survey will set you back about £750ish (unless you haggle for cash), but can pay for itself if defects are found, but at the end of the day, you need one that isn't going to fill it with caveats because he hasn't checked the loft, hasn't lifted the floorboards etc etc.

If you can get a recommendation from a friend, and have a chat with them first and tell them the area, they may have enough local knowledge to know something about the property, or at least the road in the first place.

My ex purchased a place in 2014, and got a survey, and it was a complete waste because the owner had covered over so many things in a plausible manner.

A mortgage assessment isn't about what the home is wort, it's only about making sure there's enough equity in the house to make sure the mortgage company can repossess it, and get their money back. A structural survey should be a more thorough one than a homebuyers survey - or report as they used to be called.

Searches are very much advised, but I've done several properties with out them. Your solicitor will tell you they're essential, then when pushed (because you need to complete quickly) they'll tell you the ones you can do without.

As always, yer pays yer money, and makes yer choice.

 

[Mikefromlondon]

It would be a condition of the mortgage lender, but if you were buying cash, and you knew the property well enough, i.e. it hasn't suffered any flooding, caved in, crumbling, subsiding, then save your surveyor's fee and spend that cash and treat yourself for a change instead of entertaining useless professionals. Most of their reports are baseless, as you said they have to cover their back. And whats more all old houses are going to have some damp issues, and other settlement cracks etc that have been filled up over the years..

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

I had a firms move, who paid for the full structural survey. Some five years later my chimney stack was hit by lightning and I was able to use the surveyors report to lever the money out of the insurance company for its repair. From memory the survey cost £700 in 1980 and my share of the stack repair was £220.
In general if you know the property, I would not have a full property survey.
Frank

 

[RichD1]

Thanks for all the advice Guys. I'm happy with not have a buildings survey done but I do intend to get up in the roof space and have a look around other than that we can see that the property is in very good unmolested condition.

The property in question is actually just across the road from us and we've been in our home for almost 40 years now. The owners who have both now passed away had been there since 1956.

Richard