Are we stupid to not do a homebuyers survey?

[Eminen]

Had an offer accepted on the house we want to buy. Found a really good mortgage deal but this lender only provides basic survey and won't upgrade to a homebuyers survey.
The house is (as far as my untrained eye can tell) in good condition. Couple selling as they are separating.
Can we get a homebuyers survey without going through the lender?
Thanks for any help!

Yes you can commission a survey separately.

How old is the house?

Have you owned a house before?

You can commission a survey separately and I'd recommend that you do.

Yes we currently own our house and had a full survey done on this one.
The house was built in the 1970s.
I didn't feel comfortable with not having a survey done, it's a lot of money to spend without that little bit of reassurance.
Great, I'll have a survey done by another company. Thanks!

You can definitely get a survey independently and if you aren't sure what you are looking at I would suggest you get one however read it with a pinch of salt and a dash of common sense as they tend to put caveats everywhere
I know what I'm looking at because I've worked in the construction industry for my whole career (now 40) but I still get a survey to get a fresh pair of eyes especially when a chunk of house buying can be led by your heart - I don't always follow their recommendations and often I've already noted their points but it's a good check that you are going into a massive purchase eyes open

What Wonkylegs said!

Great. Thanks everyone.
I will definitely look into independent surveyors. We had one done of our current home, and whilst it was fairly informative, we pretty much ignored most of what was said and we've lived here very happily. But I'd definitely like the piece of mind of atleast knowing!

We didn't bother with a home buyers survey when we moved most recently. Having had 4 in the past, I don't think they are worth the paper they are written on.

They're full of caveats as wonkylegs said. "Electrics look fine but should be checked by an electrician", "could not see floorboards due to fitted carpet", "could not see condition of roof due to lack of access". My favourite one being a comment about not being able to find an immersion heater switch despite it being clearly labelled and right next to the fuse box which had apparently been checked.

When we moved recently, we checked back on the home buyers survey for the previous house. In fairness, there were a couple of things that had been accurate (flat roof might need repairing in 3-5 years) but we hadn't needed the report to tell us that. We never referenced it once after we moved in.

If you want reassurance you really need a full structural survey but they are expensive. If you have a friendly builder they might be willing to take a look for you too.

I won’t bother in future. As others have said, they’re so riddled with caveats they don’t actually tell you anything! I would however have a full independent structural survey done instead as generally they will highlight major issues. I’ve had two on this house and they both cost £250, which is what I’ve paid in the past for a homebuyers survey.

I don't think they're worth the paper they're written on. So full of caveats it's meaningless. "Electrics do not confirm to tomorrow current BS blah blah" well seeing as the latest BS was 2017, every house wired longer than 2 years ago won't confirm and is a "potential risk".

I'd rather give a trustworthy experienced general builder £50 to come on a viewing with me and poke around for an hour.

Just get yourself a piece of paper and a clipboard and write everything on it that could possibly/potentially be wrong with the house and then advise yourself to ''seek further specialist investigation'' on everything you've written down and save yourself the time and money of getting a survey done.

I disagree a Home Buyer's report is a must for me. I've seen too many refurbished houses done on a budget masking serious faults. The last house I viewed had damp issues which were temporarily resolved but would cause issues in the future, poor drainage, damp proof course partially covered by the driveway, sinking floor which could mean rotting joists, issues with roof. In other properties the roof was 150 years old and needed replacing urgently the vendor wouldn't move on price.