Should a surveyor have noticed?

[ronniecabers]

Some friends purchased property a few months ago and are currently having g it reroofed . The walls are cob and stone predominately. The roofers ( who are also a building company ) have raised the fact the render is blown on the wall in the picture and the cob is absolutely soaked through. My question is , should a surveyor have noticed this? particularly as there is a plant growing out it! I appreciate the missing render has probably fallen off as the roofers worked. This is on a gable end and the surveyor says he ' couldn't get to it' ...

 

[Diver Fred]

For whom was the surveyors report? The Building Society or The home owner?

For the BS then probably not as all that they require is the house standing, is it likely to fall down, is there any major structural defects. Unfortunately the prospective home owner has to pay for the survey but, very rarely, is the prospective owner allowed to see the report.

For the home owner then yes it should have been noticed, recorded and the prospective home owner notified. Again, unfortunately (IME) will the BS accept a copy of the prospective home owners report but will demand a separate, less detailed, report.

 

[wessex101]

If the surveyor said "he couldn't get to" the gable end how was this photograph taken?

Simple question - Would it have been possible to view the gable end wall at the time of the survey?

 

[ronniecabers]

I took the photo from the scaffolding the roofers have up

The surveyors report was for the homeowner at time of purchase and the homeowner had seen it and no mention of blown render or things growing in render. The gable end was easily accessible and visible from the ground

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Forget about, it will never amount to anything.

 

[ronniecabers]

Freddie..I suspected nothing would happen but this surveyor has missed a few issues. It just made my friends wonder why they paid for a surveyor

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Yes him and everyone else who gets a survey.

 

[wessex101]

I took the photo from the scaffolding the roofers have up

The surveyors report was for the homeowner at time of purchase and the homeowner had seen it and no mention of blown render or things growing in render. The gable end was easily accessible and visible from the ground

Take a photo from ground level and let's see what that looks like.

You keep mentioning blown render, wet cob, things growing out of render but the photo looks more like paint flaking off stonework? Has the roofer been scraping off the paint? What did it look like before?

If the survey was carried out by an RICS firm they will have a complaints procedure which is backed up by a free ombudsman service. I don't know why people are so defeatist when it comes to complaining about surveys, the process is supposed to be quite straightforward.

Having said that a sideways photo taken from the roofers scaffold is hardly proof that the surveyor was negligent. If the paint was still intact and the damp is at the top of the gable wall and the surveyor did not have access to a handy scaffold it might have been easy to miss. What did the surveyor say about the roof? Did he mention the need for further investigation at all? Anything about internal damp?

 

[Nige F]

Some friends purchased property a few months ago and are currently having g it reroofed . The walls are cob and stone predominately. The roofers ( who are also a building company )
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