Getting a Property Survey Before You Buy
Buyers frequently believe the mortgage valuation tells them about the property's condition. It does not, and the confusion is expensive.
Valuation versus survey
A mortgage valuation is carried out for the lender to confirm the property is adequate security for the loan. It is brief, may be desk-based, and reports to the lender rather than to you.
A survey is commissioned by you, inspects the property's condition, and reports to you.
Relying on the valuation is the most common and most costly omission in a purchase.
The levels of survey
A basic condition report gives a summary of condition with a traffic light rating, without advice or valuation. Suitable only for modern properties in visibly good order.
A mid-level homebuyer report inspects visible and accessible areas, identifies problems, and gives advice on repairs. Adequate for conventional properties of standard construction in reasonable condition.
A full building survey is the most thorough, examining the property in detail including construction and materials, and giving comprehensive advice. Appropriate for older properties, unusual construction, listed buildings, or anything visibly altered or in poor repair.
Cost rises with level, and the difference between mid and full level is small relative to the cost of an undiscovered structural problem.
What surveys do not cover
Areas that are inaccessible — under floors, behind furniture, within walls, inside a roof space that cannot be entered safely.
Services are generally not tested. Electrical, gas, heating and drainage require specialist inspections, which surveyors routinely recommend rather than perform.
Reports frequently include recommendations for further investigation. Those recommendations exist for a reason and following them is part of the process rather than an upsell.
Reading the report
Distinguish urgent defects from maintenance items from observations. Reports frequently look alarming because they describe everything.
Look for anything described as requiring urgent attention or further investigation, and price those before proceeding.
Speak to the surveyor. Most will discuss the report by phone, and that conversation is frequently more useful than the document.
Using it
Obtain quotes for identified work, which converts a concern into a figure.
Renegotiate on the basis of those figures, which is a factual conversation rather than a haggle, or ask the seller to complete the work before exchange.
Where something serious emerges — structural movement, significant damp, a compromised roof — the report has done its job even if you withdraw.
Commission the survey before exchange, since after that point the property is yours whatever it reveals.
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