!! Major problems found that were not on our Homebuyer survey

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I'm totally fed up with this house renovation. It's caused a lot of deep stress (I never wanted this house but we ended up biuyijg it anyway). We've uncovered so many problems.

What I don't understand is we got a RICS Homebuyer Report. In it, the Surveyeor notes that the "roof is in adequate condition for its age" and scores it green, meaning no action needed. Guess what. It needed a whole new roof for £15k.

We've now found dry rot and it's bad. It's spread up the walls and into the floor hosts of a large room at least. Again, the Surveyeor said there was a slight damp reading in another room, and did not mention anything about the possibility of rot or lack of DPC, or the fact the bricks were laid on the ground, not on joists (which has caused the water to rise).

Why did I get a survey? Waste of money. Anyway, just wondered if there were any rights that we had. We simply would not have bought this house had we known

Sorry, full of iPhone typos! Buying and meant to say floor joists not hosts. Don't think it's possible to edit your post when using the mobile site.

A homebuyers' report is pretty superficial. The surveyor normally doesn't look beyond the obvious ie. Is there a roof and does it look ok from road and attic, but may suggest further specific investigations, such as to find the cause of damp. Sorry but if you had major work planned you should have had a full structural survey.

To be honest - even the full structural survey doesn't seem to be that intensive. The surveyor I use basically gave the same information but in different templates (I got him to do a full structural survey on one property, then a homebuyers report on another - they seemed very similar in detail).

Actually, the structural survey was pretty good - just having a look at it now.

We had exactly the same problems. I wish we'd never spent money on a full structural and never would again. If you want to raise a claim it's about £500. I kind of wish we had but at the time every penny counted. I think it's a lesson learnt and in the future would always get a damp and roof specialist in.

and by that, I mean both the homebuyers report and the structural survey we got was pretty detailed.

We didn't plan major works - that's my point!
Always better to get a builder in who will actually really check, and will give you an honest view.

Should I take it up with the Surveyeor?

We have had major issues too with a house we bought 16 months ago. Surveyor gave a green light on everything. Missed a huge crack down the back of houae above an RSJ on an extension amongst a million other things.
I hatw this house wirh a passion and feel sick everytime i drive home to it.
Anyway. I have several friends who work as in conveyencing and ive done a fair bit of research. Basically surveys are not worth the paper they are written on. Even the full blown ones. There is a small pribt get out clause to cover every single thing mentioned or not mentioned. There are next to no successful legal cases against suveyors out there.
Basically i have to suck up the heap of shit we bought. I survive on a fatasy of leaving once the kids leave home and i might just be able to scrape by if i buy myself studio flat one day. The thought of walking away with nothing to do with this shit heap is actually quite liberating.

How's the builder meant to be better? It's in his interest for you to do work so that he can earn money. How many opinions did you get to make sure the roof needed redoing completely and not just a repair? The rot sounds awful. You could have a look on the RICS website - they might have some suggestions on how to proceed with challenging the surveyor.

The RICS surveyor owes you a duty of care, and if he missed serious problems affecting the value of the property then you should have grounds to claim. It is notoriously an old boy's network so it won't be quick or straightforward by all accounts, but RICS firms have professional indemnity insurance for a reason.

You will need to do everything in writing and first thing will be to request the firm's complaints procedure. They should be signed up to an ombudsman scheme as well.

The small print where they try and wriggle out of any responsibility can be challenged as an unfair contract term as well.

Have a google as people have successfully recovered costs, even under a home buyer's report rather than structural survey.

The important thing to bear in mind is that even if you are successful in acclaim against the surveyor (which is difficult) your claim in. £ terms is the difference you paid for the house and what it was worth if you had known about the defects This may be a lot less than the cost of repairs

a homebuyer report usually means they loooked at the roof via binoculars from outside and if easy access to looking inside, they will have done that.

btw why does the whole roof need replacing - I'm just trying to think what the surveyor should have seen. Is it possible that roof replacement is also a matter of opinion? I have been down that road many times with patching up ultimately lasting 20+ years.