4 weeks in and buyer gets a homebuyers survey done?

[nell15]

We're a small chain we're buying off a couple splitting up and an elderly couple are down sizing to our house. We've had lots of to-img and fro-img between solicitors with questions etc and we've answered all their questions promptly. We're not far off signing and exchanging contracts.
Now we're told that a surveyor is coming to do a homebuyers report tomorrow. Why would they do that at this stage in the process? They don't need a mortgage as far as we know, so why now?

[Aderyn2016]

Doesn't everyone get a survey before buying a house. You can't really expect your buyer to trust you absolutely that there is nothing wrong with your house. People do hide things on order to sell. I think home buyer reports also flag up area issues, like if the area is a flood risk or planning permission has been given to build something big and noisy over the road.

[PurpleDaisies]

I'd be surprised that the survey hadn't happened earlier but I agree with the poster above-why would anybody buy without a survey?

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

Maybe they've been told by a friend or relative that they really should have a survey.

Maybe they waited until almost ready to go as its expensive and didn't want to waste the money in case their purchase didn't go through.

[Fairylea]

Everyone should have a survey done. Cash or mortgage.

[QuiteLikely5]

Nobody in their right mind buys a house without a survey!

Your house could have a number of issues that are not visible to the untrained eye hence the need for a report

[OurBlanche]

As ^^

No one should buy a house without a report! We got ours a way into the process, once we were sure(ish) that the house would be ours.

[QuiteLikely5]

And it's important to get the survey carried out early so that if there are issues the buyers can pull out or re-negotiate the price etc if there are any issues

Most solicitors won't do searches etc either for their client until they have sight of the report

[nell15]

Yes I understand why people should have a survey but why now? I even checked with the EA a few weeks after we started the process as they hadn't set one up then. So why now?

[Aderyn2016]

Probably because things are getting very definite now. It's the most money they will likely ever spend and they want to be sure that all is well structurally.
I would view it as a positive, as they are unlikely to pull out having spent all that money on a survey. Just be aware that if you have not been truthful about the condition of the house, they may wish to renegotiate the price.

[nell15]

Thanks. I can see that it's a positive thing.
I've checked our survey when we bought this house 3 years ago ( we've not been here long, but we're relocating) there were only minor things, that we've since put right e.g. Double glazing was poor we've replaced it, conservatory mediocre - we've put a new, far superior one in plus a new damp course in it.
So I'm not going to worry

[Bellaposy]

More than likely they were waiting on their mortgage lender and getting the home buyers report through them. If they are buying with a mortgage then it is an absolute minimum requirement to have at least a valuation done.

[Allthebestnamesareused]

I suspect its now ir 4 weeks in rather than earlier precisely because they are not getting a mortgage. When you buy with a mortgage its the first thing you get onto after offer accepted and part of the mortgage application is to state which type of survey. They probably just realised they hadn't automatically booked one. Even now it will only take a couple of days for the surveyor to report back so it shouldn't hold things up unless there are lots if issues revealed!

[InfiniteSheldon]

We are buying without a survey it's in god awful condition but looks structurally sound and we know what we are doing also buying for cash. I said to dh about getting a survey but he says it's a waste of money not worried at all me no not at all

[PurpleDaisies]

We are buying without a survey it's in god awful condition but looks structurally sound and we know what we are doing also buying for cash.

That's incredibly reckless unless you or your dh are civil engineers/surveyors/have money to burn if there are serious structural problems. A few hundred quid now vs thousands later? I know what I'd do.

[P1nkP0ppy]

I hope for your sake it's structurally sound InfiniteSheldon, that's a huge gamble 😟
DSis did the same because her DH knows it all 😳 and unfortunately it's costing them ££££££s because of massive internal and external subsidence cleverly covered up by the vendors with new render and wallpaper. Effectively it needs rebuilding from scratch......

[InfiniteSheldon]

you don't need to tell me tell my dh! In all fairness we buy very run down properties and bring them back to good condition we've both done it several times. This one is ex council, bought a few years ago so no realistic chance of subsidence, it's borderline uninhabitable (no working kitchen or bathroom) so a survey couldn't tell us anything we can't see. Damp/wall ties/full rewire/new boiler and heating system etc we expect to do. Dh been up on the roof, in the loft etc he knows what he's doing. On top of this it was due to exchange and collapsed further along the chain so it's mortgageable.I posted because the OP was concerned people do buy without surveys but this last minute survey is probably just to get an idea of any work doing that would be our only reason for a survey.

[Difficultyear2015]

I have bought 4 houses.
1 with a survey and 3 without.

Each house was approx 200 years old.

The house we bought with a survey said it was all fine.
Moved in and found it had rising damp issues. They surveyor didn't move furniture to use his meter on all areas so that was a waste of money.

All other houses didn't have survey.
They were old houses. We learnt from the survey we did have what they looked for and did our own more thorough checks when we bought.