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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

in thinking the full structural survey I paid £900 is not worth the more than the paper I wipe my arse on?

14 replies

Megglevache · 24/03/2011 16:03

Tell me it's not just me that's had a disgrace for a survey?

Things like "that might be dodgy but I didn't have a ladder/couldn't move stuff/it was disguised by xyz"

How the hell is it different from a basic survey/valuation/homebuyers survey?

£900?????Pitiful...

OP posts:
Original poster
Megglevache · 24/03/2011 16:06

I have created two of these for the price of one- please ignore the other Blush

OP posts:
Mandy2003 · 24/03/2011 16:12

YANBU - I recently sold my house and knew that the buyer was having a full survey. I was intrigued to see what they were getting for the money so I followed the surveyor round. He didn't move b*gger all, nor lift a single carpet or anything.

The only time I've ever seen a surveyor providing his money's worth was when I engaged one in London to look at the downstairs part of the building where I owned a flat to see if I wanted to buy it at auction. It was brilliant, I learned so much about buildings so I've always figured if you want a survey done properly you've got to go with them.

manfromCUK · 24/03/2011 16:18

YANBU every survey seems to be littered with so many disclaimers as to be worthless. I would never pay for anything other than the basic survey (and only then because it's compulsory).

HMTheQueen · 24/03/2011 16:20

That is what my SMIL said when I was buying my house - so I didn't get one. Granted I have a small patch of damp under a window and beside a door - but I could see that myself.

Other than that, she said that they're pretty much useless as they don't tell you anything you can't see yourself (and I know nothing about houses).

Sorry - not very helpful since you've already paid for it!

Tinwe · 24/03/2011 16:24

YANBU. We've just bought a converted prefab house and paid for a full structural survey because of its history. The solicitor advised me to ring the surveyor because it was so poor, very thin in content like yours sounds, my last homebuyers was better - he didn't even find out when the conversion was done or what was done, just typed "... the neighbour says...". He then gave a list of other professionals to ask for advice! We finally got hold of some paperwork about the conversion and asked him to look it over and say whether the work done was correct, he refused, saying he had no idea what paperwork there should be but he'd read online that there "was something you could get". :(

sowhatshallido · 24/03/2011 16:27

i am so glad i paid for a full structural survey because we could use it a couple of years down the line as proof that our house couldnt be worth what the council said because of a problem in the roof (that we paid to correct obviously) that was there at the time it was assessed for council tax. And they lowered our banding by one band.

RustyBear · 24/03/2011 16:28

I remember when we sold our first flat, the first sale fell through after the buyer had had his survey (not because the survey had shown any problem, just the buyer's circumstances changed)

We got another offer and the day the surveyor was due, we turned the central heating on to check it was OK, as it hadn't been on for a few months - and it didn't work! We tried to sort it, but couldn't, so I told DH to disappear and I'd do the 'poor little woman doesn't know how to turn it on' thing.

As it happened, the surveyor was the same guy as for the first survey and the first thing he said was 'I know this place is OK, I've been here before'
All he did was to ask how long was left on the lease,which he hadn't checked before - he was in the flat about three and a half minutes, and presumably charged the buyer the full price.

(btw, we did get the heating fixed before we moved out!)

venusandmars · 24/03/2011 16:59

YANBU. Survey on our house showed bugger all, except that the gas boiler was old-ish - yup, it was put in when the house was built.

A 2 minute google search that I did showed new windows (needed planning permission for conservation area) and also that it was in a flood warning area!

nocake · 24/03/2011 17:07

It doesn't sound like the structural survey we had done. That was very comprehensive and the surveyor had clearly investigated every nook and cranny of the house and written a detailed report.

If something is inaccessible without damaging the building or contents then there is no way for him/her to assess it but they should move furniture and bring a ladder to access loft spaces.

pinxminx · 24/03/2011 17:22

I'm a structural engineer and that does sound very lax. It is difficult some times to see things properly - people expect us to crow bar up floor boards etc but we really can't do this as it will damage the floor!

I think that it is a case of managing expectations.

Generally I get asked to do a structural survey if there is a suspected problem picked up by a surveyor (like a dodgey roof) so it is easy for me to take the right gear + I can can give them an answer specific to their question.

I wish I had a pair of x-ray specs sometimes...

toeragsnotriches · 24/03/2011 17:23

I think there has recently been a 'landmark' legal ruling in favour of a homeowner who sued his surveyor. He'd had a full structural survey done and it missed massive subsidence to the back of the house. This became evident after they'd moved in.

The biggest joke survey we had done was a party wall survey prior to our loft conversion. There's no way he could have seen any part of the houses either side of ours that would've been affected by the loft as he couldn't have seen the roof from the ground. And all that for 1600. And unavoidable Angry

Hassled · 24/03/2011 17:26

We've had some useless surveys. Cavalier about some stuff, hysterically over-careful about others. But there's always the odd useful bit.

wonkylegs · 24/03/2011 20:47

Surveys are these days a joke...full of caveat after caveat
I'm a construction professional myself (not a surveyor) so know what to look for anyway and wouldn't get anything except that required by the mortgage company - I'd get other people in to look at anything that I though was dodgy but otherwise I keep my eyes peeled
Any residual faith I had in surveys when my parents structural survey failed to notice that the house had severe subsidence (turned out the house was built on a v.v steep hill with no foundations Confused )...they took the surveyor to court and won but the surveyor (big corporate company ) fought it and despite winning the whole thing still cost my parents over 70K to sort out so they had a safe house to live in

Northeastgirl · 24/03/2011 20:51

I share your pain. We were stretching ourselves to the limit when we bought our house so we paid £1,000 for a scheme 2 survey in the hope of avoiding nasty surprises further down the line.

The most detailed advice in the whole 6 pages of disclaimers was.........."the windows may not comply with current regulations".

Complete waste of money.

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