Would you get a structural survey on this house?

[beingsuper]

I am going round in circles deciding what survey to buy on this house. Our mortgage deal includes a homebuyers as well as a valuation. We've always commissioned our own homebuyers before but money is very tight this time.

House is 1980s. Good condition. Only reason for considering a full structural survey is because it has been extended from 3 beds to 5 over the double garage and the kitchen diner has been extended which knocked out the back wall. This has been done in last 5 years so presume building control would have been pretty tight on foundations, rsjs etc.

Any advice?

I would get a full survey on ANY house i was buying.

Really? I've looked at loads of property sites (including Which?) and haven't seen anything that suggests that you should. They all only recommend it in certain circumstances, old period properties or those in bad repair, non standard construction, or if you're planning major structural work etc. I saw a couple of sites which also included houses which had been altered significantly - but not all of them mentioned this.

This is the survey that takes a full day and costs in excess of £1,000.

Yes! We knocked £20k off the price on account of some problems flagged during the structural survey. Money well spent, IMO.

Agree with dorasee.

Got a structural survey done which indicated asbestos, got an asbestos survey done to find out house riddled with it & got 10K off sale agreed price.

Yes, definitely.

I wouldn't buy without one.

Yes, on any house.

I don't know, have you had the homebuyers and has it flagged up anything? You could ring the council and check it was all signed off (or speak to your solicitor as it should be picked up during the searches). We had a homebuyers and then got specialists in for certain things picked up - damp etc (used a historic building specialist as it's an old house).

Tbh, it's difficult as they can pick things up. But then I've know surveyors pick up non issues from being over the top and very cautious.

When I was spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on a house, I thought that paying 1000 pounds on a full survey to make sure I wasn't wasting those hundreds of thousands on a lemon was money well spent.

However new the house, you just never know if its been bodged unless you check.

Thanks for the replies. Am still mulling it over but leaning towards full structural.

Am really surprised some people are saying they would do this type of survey on any house though. When I phone surveyors about our current house expecting to have a full structural due to age, they each said a full structural would be overkill (Edwardian semi in good repair, not extended in anyway and in an area full of similar properties with no history of subsidence etc).

Totally agree with the others, would always get full structural.

A very very expensive mistake to make if it does turn out to have problems that could have been spotted

We didn't on ours, but is mid terrace built 1888, so we figured it would have fallen down by now if structurally unsound.

I think in your shoes I would get a full survey TBH. It's a gamble.

Or read the Valuation Survey very carefully to see if anything is flagged up to warrant a full survey? Surely any serious problems woluld show up on that?

Yes definitely. My brother recently got a survey done and as a result, saved himself 5% on the cost price due to the valuation after survey.

Full survey, always, it's such an important purchase. Why risk it.

No I wouldn't for an 80's house and nothing concerned me.

Its a gamble. Sometimes it will be well worth it, sometimes it wont. Sometimes you'll be fine without one, sometimes you won't. It all boils down to your personal risk taking attitude and finances.

No I wouldn't, not for a property of that age but I would be contacting the Council to check that building regulation approvals had been obtained and completion certificates issued for all the works carried out.

most recent survey was for a late 70s house, from a surveyor who charged about £300 - having had aggro before I made it clear that I didn't want the report to be full of 'get a specialist for x' because that's what I pay the surveyor for. Good survey. Had a full structural on a previous property, paid more and got all the 'get this checked' nonsense. So I don't think what you pay has any relation to quality, sadly.

Do some of the work yourself - get on to the council and find out about the building control situation - make sure it has all been correctly logged, then give that information to the surveyor to ensure that all the right boxes have been ticked. That should help the decision.