Should we get our own, duplicate survey?

[Closetlibrarian]

I know what answer I would give if someone else asked this question... but anyway...

We're buying a house - owner has had full building survey done (due to previous sale falling through at survey stage). He's shared this survey with us while we were at the making an offer stage. We are happy that we know all of the issues with the house (it's a fixer-upper). Solicitor says we should get our own full survey done because otherwise we won't have legal recourse against anything not flagged up by surveyor. But don't surveyors cover their backs to the extent it would be almost impossible to be successful in legal action if, for example, the house needs a new roof and the surveyor hadn't pointed it out? I know the sensible thing would be to get our own full survey, but it seems like a waste of money. We will anyway have to pay for the valuation through our mortgage company...
WWYD?

I would always get an independent survey, the price of a survey is a drop in the ocean compared to the price of a house. You really don't know what the owner has taken out of the survey or asked the surveyor to do as the surveyor would only be answerable to their client which isn't you in this case.

If you’re taking on a doo-er upper and are ready for a house that needs lots of work anyway, I wouldn’t get another survey done.

You might be able to get the original surveying company to 'assign' the survey to you for a fee. We did that when we were buying a house - we approached the original surveyor and agreed that for £150 he would reissue the survey to us. The date remained per the original survey. Saved us about £500.

If you are doing a lot of work and satisfied there is nothing structural going on it seems like a waste of time and money to me.

Thanks all. I will look into whether we can get the survey assigned to us - that would be a great solution.