How to find a surveyor?

[aufaniae]

How do you go about getting a surveyor when buying a house?

is it normally through the mortgage lender? How would you find a good one independently?

TIA :)

hopeful bump :)

we just looked on the RICS website, and you can do a postcode search on there.
You can go through your mortgage lender.
You may find if you wish to have an independent survey, that your lender still charges you for a 'valuation survey' anyway- best to check with them.
Our mortgage lender does this, though if you use a surveyor on their approved panel, there is just an admin charge to pay to 'convert' your survey to their requirements (about £30)... needless to say, our surveyor wasn't on their list!

We just used the surveyor through the mortgage company. They were great. Very easy to get hold of, happy to talk to us on the phone and even to go back to look in a mystery box that we had opened. And surprisingly cheap for a full survey.