Is a more detailed bank property survey for us both or just them?

[Sillyjelly]

Hello,

First time buyer here - fairly clueless.

I've just been approved for my mortgage (woohoo!) and they offered me either a basic valuation survey for free, or a more involved one for £520.

Is the more involved one to protect me too? as in I wouldn't have to pay for my own additional survey, or is it just related to the mortgage and I would still have to get a separate survey for myself? I asked the adviser if I get the report too and she said yes, but i later wondered if this is an actual relationship between me and the surveyor where I would have some kind of come-back if they missed something.

Thanks in advance!

The more detailed survey is for you only - if you choose to have the surveyor who is doing the mortgage provider's valuation survey do your home buyer's or structural survey then you don't have to instruct a different surveyor and arrange a second survey at the house you are buying.

IME surveyors cover themselves so it would be very hard to sue them for anything they may miss.

Check what the more detailed survey covers as full surveys are usually nearer £1000 - not that you necessarily need that much depth.

There are 3 types of survey - basic mortgage valuation survey, home buyers survey or full structural survey.

The free one is the mortgage valuation survey. It is basically just for the lender to establish whether they'll be able to get their money back if you defaulted on the mortgage. It's short and to the point - how many rooms / bedrooms it has, a really brief section for comments and then a value.

The homebuyers survey is the middle one, looks at things in a bit more depth and should flag up any serious issues or recommend further reports if there could be issues.

The full structural survey is the 'top of the range' survey and should provide lots of detail.

As a pp says, surveys are notoriously self serving and will include things like ' further specialist reports for damp / timber treatments / electrics Tec are recommended' or 'no inspection of Sub floor / loft etc was possible due to access issues' so whilst it's not impossible to sue a surveyor for negligence, it's difficult. Most people in a fairly standard house would go for the first or second valuation - sometimes just for a heads up on what future costs they might be facing / possibly renegotiate the purchase price if something major and unexpected comes up.

Are you expecting many problems? Is the property older or run down?

Just a small warning that although the survey is for you, the survey company may take a little bit of persuasion to release it. The bank were happy for them to release it to us, but we had to practically wrestle it off them.