# House surveys



## Hereisphilly (Nov 17, 2014)

We've had our offer accepted on a house we viewed last week, and are just starting down the buying process

I've had the conveyancy pack from the solicitors and in there they strongly recommend a full structural survey on the property

The property is pretty new, not 100% how old but my best guess is around 10 years old. Zoopla has the 1st sale (listed as a newbuild) showing at 2005 and this kinda tally's with the age of the house and when people remember them being built

The house is perfect condition, the current owners are clearly very hot on upkeep and on first impressions there are no issues

Reading online, the wording of a homebuyers report is often not worth the paper it's written on, and the surveyor often doesn't check an awful lot. I also get the impression that alot of the things they cover is common sense

I've also read that a full structural survey, whilst comprehensive is often only really needed for older properties


So I'm in a bit of predicament, are either of the two worth shelling out on for our house? I'd like to obviously save the cash if at all possible, and all my work colleagues say to not bother with either

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## Ducky (Mar 19, 2007)

Unless its had extensions of any sort done, I wouldn't bother with a survey, 10 years old is nothing.


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## Mr Kirk (Sep 26, 2016)

If it falls down you've got house insurance anyway.


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## Hereisphilly (Nov 17, 2014)

Ducky said:


> Unless its had extensions of any sort done, I wouldn't bother with a survey, 10 years old is nothing.


Yeah it hasn't had an extension done or anything, just the usual internal wall knocking down etc to open out the kitchen


Mr Kirk said:


> If it falls down you've got house insurance anyway.


Haha very true

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## DrEskimo (Jan 7, 2016)

Yea wouldn't bother mate. Just get the cheapest one that values the house. I bought my current house in Feb and it's a Victorian terraced house so thought I should get a fairly expensive survey down to be safe. Half of what the surveyor wrote down was to advise me to get someone more qualified to check...! Electrics and that! Very helpful...

I'm knocking down the old rear extension and building a new one and it's covered in damp so they didn't even flag that up....


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## willywonker (Oct 27, 2016)

Personally I would get a proper survey, if the house is just over 10 years old it's just out of structural warranty with nhbc, if it's got problems your 100% on your own. Our last 2 houses have been new build and the quality of newish houses varies a lot. I'd try and find out who the original developers were and google away, it could be like buying a 10 year old Dacia or a 10 year old Jag.

Don't forget home insurance won't cover a huge amount of pre existing issues, especially crap builders!

Unless of course you have a few grand spare to chuck at any issues you might have, in which case don't worry


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## Midlife (Sep 6, 2016)

Good morning I'm in the property industry have been for nearly 30 years now for my sins... a few nuggets of advice here.
1st take a well known local reputable builder along for a viewing of the property do a search online if you don't know anyone.
2nd take a gas engineer and an electrician,maybe have a look in the roof for any obvious leaks.So now you have the bases covered. 
You mentioned in the conveyancing pack from solicitors they advise having a full structural survey do they know something you don't know?
Maybe the house is built on a quarry for example. There's a well know estate near my home town that had the fire brigade out as the houses started sinking no joke!
It's the biggest investment you are going to make for a while and once you move in and find issues a keen surveyors eye would have spotted it's definitely worth spending out for in my opinion. I would also see a survey as a starting point think of it as a pre wash snow foam. 


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## Taxboy (Aug 23, 2006)

Midlife said:


> Good morning I'm in the property industry have been for nearly 30 years now for my sins... a few nuggets of advice here.
> 1st take a well known local reputable builder along for a viewing of the property do a search online if you don't know anyone.
> 2nd take a gas engineer and an electrician,maybe have a look in the roof for any obvious leaks.So now you have the bases covered.
> You mentioned in the conveyancing pack from solicitors they advise having a full structural survey do they know something you don't know?
> ...


I agree its a big chunk of cash to take a risk on and in the scheme of things not that much money for some piece of mind. For example I paid I think £50 for an electrical survey, which covered itself in a price reduction and a full survey was £500


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## Juke_Fan (Jul 12, 2014)

Just bought a 20 year old property myself and went for a Home Buyers Survey @ about £400. I had a good chat with the Surveyor and he said a structural survey would be a waste of money unless there are any known issues in the area.

Have a look at this site to help you make up your mind www.homecheck.co.uk

I would say you will be fine with a Home Buyers Survey. I went for a local surveyor but my buyers used Cosey Homes (https://www.coseyhomes.co.uk/areas-we-cover/) who seem to cover a lot of areas. From what i saw he was very thorough and did an excellent job, was certainly impressed with what he did and it was cheaper than i paid!


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## jimi_boom (Dec 28, 2010)

I would suggest to do the basic survey as said above most of them are simply advice.

Have a good poke around and make sure you cant see any cracks or obvious problems like sagging of roof lines or any switches that don't work etc

If its only 10 years old then it should have had all the settlement issues and any fitment issues already sorted but it would also be worth a quick chat with the neighbours as well.

That's just my opinion though


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## funkydunk (Aug 16, 2016)

I found the basic survey is as you said worded to cover their backs. I have turned off unsafe boilers for fairly obvious faults in newly purchased homes and nothing was mentioned in the survey.


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## krissyn (Jul 27, 2014)

Surveys are always a gamble, it depends on how good the surveyer is. 

When I bought my house I got the full survey done and it came with all the usual caveats etc, but also spoke to the surveyor afterwards and he gave an 'off the record' survey and there was only one thing he'd do if it was his house.

My ex had a full survey done as well, it came back with comments about the gas central heating & boiler. Except there's no gas and it was on economy seven, he also missed the floor built with fence posts despite being specifically asked to check. Definitely not worth the paper it was written on.

However if it was me, at 10 years old, there is unlikely to be anything significant. If maintained by a keen DIYer it might be worth getting the electrics and gas checked.


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## Jack R (Dec 15, 2014)

One thing you could check is if it was registered with the nhbc, has the been any claims on yours or the surrounding properties. That would then give you a bit of an idea of how well they where built. Although that obviously depends on a lot of what if's as well. 
The other option of course is to have a good look about and ask the people if they mind anyone taking a look, if they don't mind then usually they've got nothing to hide.


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## Hereisphilly (Nov 17, 2014)

Thanks for all the replies guys, lots of very useful advice all round 

We've done a bit more digging and found out that the house was built in 2006 so just 10 years old

We're taking a friend of a friend who is a builder, as well as both respective dad's who are very handy for the 2nd viewing 

Given the age of the properly we feel it should be fine, but understand it's a risk regardless

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## gtechpete (Aug 16, 2010)

If you change your mind and want a fantastic structural surveyor (RICS chartered) drop me a PM and I can send you some details.

A property of that age personally I wouldn't, but for older properties I 100% would go with a full structural survey as a good surveyor will go above and beyond and identify potential issues a normal surveyor wouldn't even dream of looking at or for.


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