nightmare

[Marco1976]

Either a cowboy job or it got taken out later.

And how likely, relatively, are each of those options?

I think it is a fair question.

What, to think it possible that after the survey had been done the seller went round and removed all the bonding cables and clamps?

When I bought my house, the seller had ripped out all of the tv coaxial cable ends. How much are those? 2 or 3 quid?

The OP mentioned no bonding in the property so this should have either been picked out by survey or the wires and clips could have been removed following survey.

It is possible that an overzealous spark may have condemned the installation on the basis of no bonding being there at all hence the call for a rewire.

IMHO.