Survey - which one and when

[OfUselessBooks]

We are downsizing and won't have a mortgage this time, so we haven't been told to get a survey...however I think it's something we need to do. Our new house is around 30 years old - should we still get the full one?

Also - our searches are going through now and are taking around 6 weeks. Is it best to get on with the survey now or wait until the searches come in?

Thanks

[Wildwood6]

I would still get a full survey done, even without a mortgage. Even for a newish house there might be issues that might make you want to re-negotiate the price. My DH bought a house that was newer than yours so just got a standard valuation done, it turned out the roof leaked like a sieve and needed replacing in its entirety, a full survey should have picked that up, and even if somehow the surveyor had missed it he would have had some comeback against the surveyor via the RICs arbitration scheme.

[Zebrahooves]

I would still get a full survey done - it's a lot of money to lay out and I would get everything checked.