Does a cash buyer still have a survey done?

[CrapBag]

We are selling our shared ownership property and the person who is buying it has the cash for the share (and has proved it) so will not be getting a mortgage.

It was all confirmed last Wednesday and I haven't heard anything about a survey yet. Will he still need a survey done? We are getting ours done through the mortgage company but obviously he won't be.

If he has any sense he will!

Their choice. The mortgage company survey is very basic. People often have additional surveys done to give them additional information. So your buyer could choose to do this or might not.

It's entirely up to him. He won't be required to get one by his bank so it depends on whether he wants to take the risk of not getting one. I wouldn't.

My DD did, would have been crazy not to.

A survey through a mortgage company isn't a 'proper' survey - it's basically the mortgage company sending someone to look at the property to ensure it is roughly worth what they're lending you to buy it.

It won't tell you much (if anything) about the structure or safety of the property.

There are degrees of surveys - ranging from a valuation survey through to a full structural survey and many options in between.

I didn't get a survey when I was a cash buyer. I'm in Scotland so relied on the home report. Old farmhouse and steadings type place. Walls are three foot thick and it's hundreds of years old so it was always going to cost to maintain/ bring up to spec.

Not fallen down yet...

Ok, so if I don't hear then its not necessarily something to worry about. I was getting concerned that he didn't seem to have arranged a survey yet. Although we haven't sorted ours yet but that's because I had to find out some additional information for the mortgage application.

I am planning to upgrade the survey from the mortgage company. We have the option to upgrade it to a full structural for not that much more money and its certainly much cheaper than the independent quotes I got.

They certainly should but don't have to

Doesn't need to as it is his money he is risking and not the banks.
A survey you have done for a mortgage is a "valuation Survey" which is basically someone looking ad saying it worth what you have offered on it.
The more deposit you have the less picky they will be.

He doesn't have to get one done, but might want someone in the know to have a look. Even just having a valuer out, means someone can pick up some of the more worrying things. Our buyer's valuer took 50 mins, you could see him turning around in the rooms, making notes, he was banging around in the loft and it looked as if he'd opened the upstairs windows as nets as they'd been moved and one window catch was out of place. Also, I had to move some items so he could look at trip switches and corners of conservatory (had bags piled up in there). We weren't expecting anything major wrong, but was feeling panicky!

Regarding timescale for a survey, it was just over three weeks until we had ours done, as we were trying to decide between mortgages, made an appointment and then I had an emergency appointment at the hospital which had to take priority. I would expect most people to have one done in 2-4 weeks.

He doesn't have to have one and he might not choose to.

I've bought houses for cash before and not had a survey done.

Ours had a full structural survey - surveyor was here for the whole day