So when do you get 'the survey' done

[WazFlimFlam]

DH and I are first time buyers and had an offer accepted on our first property. We have instructed solicitors and things are underway with our broker.

However, when do we get things like the structural survey/homebuyers survey done? (I don't mean the mortgage provider's valuation).

I would have thought it was a good idea to do asap so that we know if anything is wrong sooner rather than later, but everyone is push, push, pushing on absolutely everything but this.

I have quotes, should we go ahead and book this? Or should we wait a bit?

Is the chain complete? I wouldn't incur any costs until then.

What do you mean is the chain complete? We are tenants on a rolling contract and the property we want to buy is currently empty.

We arranged our survey as soon as we instructed solicitors - for us it was important to understand what we were buying (as the survey is the point which could throw up dealbreakers) before we'd gone too far down the route of searches etc and incurred too many solicitors fees

Do you already have your mortgage in principle confirmed?

Ladygrey66 yes, but we are probably going to go with a different mortgage provider than the one we have our mortgage in principle agreed with.

Wait until the mortgage valuation is done. I offered on a house, organised the survey and the mortgage valuation came in over 25k less than offer. I couldn’t do it and lost the money on the survey.

Okay - so the chain is complete as it's just you buying an empty house. Your OP didn't have that info. You can usually get the valuation survey the mortgage company is using to do your survey at the same time. It speeds things up.

We have been advised by our broker not to use the same survey company as the mortgage company. They say we should book our own as then it will be an independent survey.

The surveyors are independent specialists, I don't see the problem. They provide the valuation to you and the mortgage company and you then get the other survey report.

We've never had separate valuations and surveys. The surveyor will do the valuation too. Unless your mortgage company is offering a free valuation I'd do it as one.
But if you are now going to use a different mortgage company I'd
wait until they've agreed the loan. Then get the valuation/survey asap.

This is a tricky one. I lost over £2k paying for surveys on houses I didn't go on to buy.

Sellers seem to treat you as 100% committed only once you've shelled out for a survey, which is annoying, as it still doesn't stop you being gazumped.

I'd sort your mortgage out ASAP, stay in touch with estate agent regularly, and then book survey once you've got your finances in place.

Good luck!

Yep I agree with WhatsGoing, get the mortgage and mortgage valuation sorted and then arrange the survey. Although as mentioned up-thread there's no reason why the valuation and survey can't be carried out at the same time. Keep in touch with the agent too so they can update the vendor regularly. Good luck with it! Buying (and selling) is always stressful but it will be worth it when you're in your lovely new home.