Buyer's surveyor coming on Monday - anything I should do/not do?

[Zeeky]

Title says it all really! They are coming to do the valuation and Homebuyers Report. Should I have the house as tidy & spotless as when the buyer came to see it? Is there anything I need to do in particular to ensure a good report?

I would have it as spotless as if it was the buyer coming to see it! Others may say it's a waste of time but I do think that tidy, well presented homes must give a better first impression to the surveyor and that has to count for something! Flowers even? I know it's costly but if it makes your home look more expensive!!

Good luck!

I know that we had a really good chat to the guy who came to do our house, he was really friendly and seemed to like us. I can't imagine that he was anything other than honest in his report, as it was his liability, but there are ways and ways of putting things! Our buyers didn't haggle at all when really there were things they could legitimately have picked us up on, so I think it must have been skewed in our favour.

Don't lie... (vendors claimed boiler was fairly new and had been serviced annually)
Make sure you have keys to window locks, all doors etc (they didn't, and we later discovered the side door wasn't actually attached to the house, just resting in the frame, survey just said 'no key was available for the side door)

Make sure you know where water meter etc is (vendors claimed it was in a corner under overgrown weed patch - no, actually that was the foul sewer with just a rusty broken manhole cover over it)

I'm sure you're good honest people, am just aware of how easy it is for vendors to pull the wool over surveyors' eyes!

Reasonably tidy but no need for viewer-tidy. Tell the truth but no need to volunteer information about faults you are not asked about. Offer a cuppa :)

Agree with above.

The surveyor will have probably seen more houses in a month than you will ever see in a lifetime.

They will have heard all the excuses and seen / seen through all the tricks an average houseowner is ever likely to pull.

Flowers, fresh coffee, clean carpets are of absolutely no interest to the professional, they are simply there to do a job.

Make her / his life easy, provide access as JumpJockey says (although the bit about "wool over the eyes" is usually nonsense) and that's the best you can do.

Have a ladder or whatever you use to get into the roof space handy.

Details of any work you have done, so they can compare with the price you paid and pretend to come up with an accurate valuation. I know ours was just a valuation for a remortgage but they asked about similar properties in the area and recent sold prices so they could compare and then completely ignored them until we challenged their figure

Silly things like if you have parking for more than 1 car, make sure they can park- I'm glad I put my car to the back of the drive as the valuer parked infront and it clearly showed it was a double driveway.

Put the heating on long before they come - demonstrates that the boiler works (they don't check as part of the report) AND may help dry out any superficial dampness that those ridiculous and oversensitive damp meter prongs pick up.

Also flush your loos a lot as they will lift the drain covers to check the water flow - don't want any obstructions hanging about!