Unprofessional Surveyor (Deeply Worried) :(

[SurveyorProblems]

Hi lovely Mumsnetters,
First-time poster, but long-term lurker :)

Sorry to bother you all just before Christmas, but I am desperate for some wisdom and advice and I thought AIBU might be the best place for support. :(

A few weeks ago, we asked a surveyor to do a Level 3 Building Survey for a property we would like to purchase. We have just received the completed report from him and the quality of the report is shocking.

As first-time buyers we didn't know what to expect really. So we spoke to friends and looked at examples of Level 3 surveys online.
Unfortunately, the quality of the report he has sent to us is shocking.

For example, he has misspelt our names (not a big issue in itself), but also there are numerous spelling errors across the whole report (including sections/descriptions which do not make any grammatical sense at all).

More concerningly, he boasted of taking lots of photographs.
However, the attached photos are of very low quality. The images are extremely blurry and sometimes it is impossible to determine what exact issue is being highlighted here. (Think taking a picture of the boiler from a weird angle and in bad lighting - so bad it is impossible to read the model).

He has requested that we pay him £700 for this report.
We are not sure if we are being unreasonable with our concerns. So any advice is really appreciated.

I would be happy to attach some sections which highlight the poor quality.

I am sorry to hear, OP.
He sounds really unprofessional.
Good quality photographs are really important for a L3 report - for £700.00 you should at least expect no spelling errors...
Maybe try and complain here?
www.rics.org/en-za/footer/contact-us/concerns/

Yup contact them professional body he is supposed to be a member of and see what they say and if you can check and see if he is indeed a member and has any professional qualifications.

It could be he is dyslexic but that doesn’t explain the crap photos.

Ask for his RICS registration number to check that he is registered. It sounds too dodgy, as though he is unqualified.

Have you actually raised this with him? That’s not entirely clear (at least to me) from your post.

His RICS no. should be on the report, under his signature. You can contact the surveyor/firm and ask for their complaints procedure. Don't bother with the RICS for a complaint.

Are you sure you've paid for a building survey and not a homebuyers/L2 home survey? £700 is cheap for a building survey, unless the property is very small and/or cheap and fairly bog standard.

@DynamiteFilledRadish
@SummerWhisper

Thanks so much for your messages, guys.
He is an independent surveyor so not attached to any company (works as a sole trader), but he does have an RICS no.
I have arranged to speak to him on Monday regarding some of the issues I have had with his report.
I explained the issue with the photos and he has emailed back a sob story about how he needs the money as Christmas has been cancelled now at his house and he has recently spent a lot of money on electrical repairs...
Attached is an example of the quality of the photographs we have received.

Well I suppose I don't care much if a survayor can spell, I just want him to be able to look at stuff and tell me if there is a problem. But the sob story really does sound unprofessional.

I wouldn't pay. If his report is so.poorly written, do you trust he has done the survey properly. It seems rushed from what you describe. You can raise a complaint with RICS.

Red flags about him saying he needs the money - I'd advise waiting until you get a report you're happy with.

@kgov1
Yes that is my fear exactly! If he is this unprofessional in his report writing, what guarantee do we have that he has conducted a thorough survey at all?

On a side note - May I ask if anyone had any structural comments included in their report? Ours only states a single line "no evidence of subsidence".
Nothing else. Is this normal? I didn't expect anything too advanced as he is not a structural engineer, but I was taken aback by the lack of any other details.

The report was also only 15 pages long (with lots of empty spaces) - I asked a lovely colleague to send me their house's Level 3 building survey - theirs was in excess of 30 pages.

@AnneElliott
Yes, I feel this is a case of him getting his money and then making us chase him for a good report. I feel bad, however, as he is elderly.

@DynamiteFilledRadish
Yes, £700.00 is about the average in our area.
We were happy to pay more for another surveyor (from a large company).
However, this gentleman explained that he was highly experienced as he had been working in our City for over 35 years.

However, if you actually saw what I got for £700.00, you would be truly shocked.

He also added the location plan for an entirely different property to the report...
So I am not exactly convinced he is very detail orientated.

I had a level 3 building survey in December, for £705, and it is 137 pages long!

I think you need to send the report back to him and say, is he sure he has sent the correct version,as this is not what you'd expect for a completed L3 report.

How did you find this person?

@Summersdreaming
Can you please let me know which company you used?
It is becoming increasingly obvious that we will need to instruct another surveyor to complete a new report :(

@Funnylittlefloozie Family member found him listed on a reputable website and submitted a request which multiple surveyors responded to.

I'm in Greater Manchester, and they cover the local area, if you are nearby let me know and I'll pm you

I have a terrible feeling that we have made a horrible mistake with this gentleman.
I did not instruct him, my family member did... :(
And I am now starting to think that he is not a surveyor or even RICS registered.

When he first got in touch, we knew he was a qualified architect as he had RIBA after his name, but I am now realising that there is no RICS No. on his report.

This is the email he sent us before taking on the job =
"I have been notified of your interest and note that my fee for a survey on your property is £700.00. I have lived in and surveyed houses in this city for 35 years."

He then send an example of "Building Survey Report" to us.

I am now feeling dreadful as it is becoming apparent that he may not be a surveyor. :(

I'd report the cheeky fucker to RIBA! I bet he isn't even an architect, either.

Just because he has RIBA after his name doesn't mean he's a fully qualified architect. He needs to be a member of the Architect's Registration Board arb.org.uk

Also if he is saying he's an Architect (not architectural technician or anything like that) then he can be prosecuted if he isn't registered.

@AnOldCynic

Just because he has RIBA after his name doesn't mean he's a fully qualified architect. He needs to be a member of the Architect's Registration Board arb.org.uk

Also if he is saying he's an Architect (not architectural technician or anything like that) then he can be prosecuted if he isn't registered.

If he's a member of RIBA, he's not qualified to do surveys.

He should be listed here OP: www.rics.org/uk/find-a-member/

@Clymene @AnOldCynic
Thank you lovely mumsnetters.
I am starting to realise that he has taken advantage of my family member's lack of understanding. That's why he is so panicked and wanting his payment because he is "broke".

He advertised himself as doing a "Building Survey" so my family member assumed that this would be similar to the level 3 RICS survey.

This is what was advertised as his email signature.
ARCHITECTURE & SURVEYING
Established 1986 Elected RIBA 1986

I am feeling so devastated as it is becoming quite obvious why he was so eager to say he was better than the other surveyors.. :(

Can I ask why you decided to order a Level 3 report OP? Is the property old? If so, then I would expect a LOT of small detail, regarding any likelihood of damp, woodworm, etc. It should note jobs like this that need doing, or may need doing in the near future. Anything that doesn't comply with planning permissions, in fact pretty much anything which is likely to cost you money in the near future. If you are on good terms with the Seller, I would be tempted to contact them, and ask them if they think he did a thorough job, and how long he was actually there. He certainly sounds extremely unprofessional, especially going on about needing the money, and sending a plan of the wrong property! If he's not registered you simply cannot rely on his report. We had a full survey done on our property, as it is old and we were doing a long distance move, so only saw the house for 2 or 3 hours on two occasions, and as it turned out, even that was a crap job, as we discovered a week after moving in, that the timber supports for a balcony were actually rotten, and could have collapsed at any moment. At the time, sadly we were too wrapped up in other things to take action, just got the work done and put it down to experience. So if in doubt, please don't pay him, and get someone else in.

Only upon receiving the report did he include the following information:

• That he is only an architect
• That this is not a structural report :(

Why not let the client know this information before you start the for them? :(

I'm so sorry because obviously your relative made the mistake,not you but I don't think he's misled you. He's not a qualified surveyor and he hasn't pretended to be one.

You ordered a report without doing checks as to what the quality of the report would be. You've received a (dubious?) report. Contract fulfilled I think.