House surveys

[Katyy]

Hi, we have had an offer on our house.Today the buyer phoned to say he had a survey done, and it falls well below asking price.The surveyor hasn't even been in the house.Are the supposed to come in and at least look around ? They paid £200 and have a 50% deposit.

That sounds like a mortgage valuation rather than a survey. It is basically a drive-by. Are they getting a proper survey as well?

Say what??

Unless you’re under pressure to get sold - dont bite. No surveyor can tell you what you should pay for/sell a house for. These are entirely personal choices. I hear of a lot of people using surveys to “chip” prices.

If the surveyor hasn’t been inside, it may be that they’re a valuer for your buyers mortgage co. They often don’t go inside, just an external. It may be that they can’t locate “comparable” sales that show the bank that the price agreed could be repeated in the event that the bank has to repossess and sell the house.

However, if your buyer has such a large deposit, they can just change the “loan to value” and the bank can lend against a lower “value” than the price actually agreed.

Thanks liverbird.No I don't think so, the house is only 10 year old, so maybe they don't need one.Never heard of a drive by.

By drive-by I mean that the mortgage valuer just literally drives past your house and makes a valuation based in what it looks like from the outside and how much similar properties in the area have sold for.
The reason I thought this may be the case is that we are currently buying and we have had to pay £200 for a mortgage valuation. We are also paying surveyors for a full survey, but they are tow different things with two different objectives.

Drive by often doesn't even mean that.

It can be purely desk driven, looking at sales of nearby houses etc, perhaps a bit of google street view!