Worth getting a full survey??

[lauren23]

We're purchasing a property that is quite modern and looks to be in very good condition. My oh's company have offered to pay for a full survey on the property but I am wondering whether it is worth it? The survey company they recommend aren't available until the end of the month and I'm worried it will hold up proceedings.
Any advice much welcome!

We wouldn't buy a house without a full survey, even better if someone else is paying!
The survey will state the obvious and be full of caveats, but there is always a chance that the surveyor has picked up on something that is not obvious and could be very costly to put right.

In my opinion you would be daft not to.

If someone else was paying I would get it done.

It won't hold up proceedings. By the time the solicitors have reached the stage where they are making enquiries and answering enquiries, your survey will be done and you can refer any legal enquiries to your solicitor at that time. The chances are there will still be enquiries outstanding (there nearly always are) and any survey queries can be dealt with at the same time.

As an aside, I would always opt to have a survey done. While they are full of get out clauses, it does at least pre-warn you of various issues which may need looking at in the future and a suggested priority of urgency.

I will never forget the look of sheer terror on my friend's face when her builder told her he believed the house she'd just bought had subsidence - when she had just opted not to have a building survey done.

I cannot understand why anyone would buy something as expensive as properties are these days without getting a full survey. We've just exchanged yesterday on our London house and our buyer didn't get one either - he just asked if we'd had anything come up on the one we had done when we bought it 11 years ago! I am shocked he has taken such a risk on something costing the heinous amounts London houses go for!

What Spickle said

Seeing as it will cost you nothing then yes, I would get one done.

I on the other hand have only had full survey done on one of the 5 houses I've bought (all aged between 100-200 years old).

The one where we had a survey missed things and was full of so many caveats it wasn't really worth the bother.

Other houses have had hidden faults that wouldn't have been picked up on surveys but have been dealt with by our buildings insurance instead.

Selling our house, we had 2 buyers. Both had surveys which we saw.

There was not one single issue that appeared on both surveys. Not one.

Buying a house, a huge issue that was obvious (to a surveyor, it was damp but not visible) was not mentioned. It cost us 4k to put right.

It's a fucking racket, it really is.