Homebuyers report or full structural survey

[PickledWilly]

We have had an offer accepted on an early 80s terrace and are wondering which kind of survey to go for. It had a rear extension 10 years ago and the vendor had it signed off by building regs. There is however evidence of a leak in the extension roof which the vendor have said they will fix. We intend to do a loft conversion once we have bought it. Should we go for homebuyers report or full structural?

We bought our house extended house (extension signed off) 4 years sgo. We had the middle type survey. The one up from homebuyers.
We've had no end of problems. There is so much wrong that our survey never flagged up.

I'm in 2 minds. Half thinks why pay the extra because we gained no useful info on our house or maybe pay for the full whack survey usually recommended for period properties in the hope it would flag up issues.
You could have a survey but ask specifics to be looked at in more detail such as the leak for example.

As there's leaks, and you're intending to do a loft conversion, I'd go for full structural and get them to also advise on suitability for loft conversion - things you need to be aware of when you do it, so nothing is a surprise when you do convert it.

I'd always do full structural.

Our buyers had the most basic survey imaginable. The bloke knocked on, ticked his clipboard, went upstairs, came downstairs, ticked a box and said 'bye'. He didn't look at walls, roof, anything. Not that there's anything we think is wrong, of course :p But honestly, he was there for five minutes or less. They're basically just checking the place exists.

Homebuyers are about an hour or so, he opened and closed windows and studied the exterior brickwork.

We got a full structural, revealing the extent of the repairs required, the flash tape on the roof, the broken lintels and suspect roof timbers, the bad pointing and more. Room by room, extremely detailed, 140 pages which allowed us to make an informed choice.

I’m torn . We’ve just bought a 1920s house. We had the basic survey, which led to needing a damp and timber survey. It told us the house was sound and there was evidence of damp. No shit Sherlock, it’s a 100 years old and been unlived in for 6 months.

We asked the surveyor what the difference was between HBR and full a full survey for an older property. We were told that the only difference is that the full survey gives more detailed advice tailored to the age of the property, they can't actually see any more than when doing a HBR survey.

We went for full structural recently and have still had various issues crop up. I now think we wasted our money tbh

I also think that surveys are kind of pointless whwn you read the zillion disclaimers attached to them, but that said it would take some balls.to buy a property without one.

It's a rock and a hard place situation really.

The people who bought our house didn't get a survey. Whilst there wasn't anything wrong with it that we knew of, I still thought it was a bit if a strange decision

When I bought this house (100+ years old, with a 1980s extension) I brought my builder round (I was planning work and wanted an idea of feasibility and cost) and asked him to look for any potential problems - he didn't find any so I bought without a survey (I was a cash buyer). Nothing has subsequently come up - maybe I was lucky but I'd do it again.

My buyers also didn't have a survey, they said that they were buying a second hand house and were willing to deal with anything that came up.

I would always get a full structural survey. This is the biggest purchase of your life. Why would you not?

I bought my last house without one and by god I've suffered trying to sell the damned house.
The buyers structural survey showed up all kinds of problems i didn't know about and I had to give them a substantial discount before they would buy it meaning I couldn't buy what I wanted onwards.

My last house was over 250 years old. My purchasers survey chap came round and I offered him a coffee. "Great " he said. Like a pp, he just had a very quick look around the inside which took him 5 minutes, then we spent 10 mins chatting over coffee. Why they didn't have a full survey on a property of that age I don't know. I was glad they didn't though because there was quite a lot wrong with it, mostly due to age (shot lime plaster and damp for example). More fool them. The house we bought was only 25 years old but we had a full structural survey. Personally I would never buy a house without one, I think it's false economy not to.
If you want to extend op, you need to know it's actually possible. The loft may well be constructed in such a way that a loft extension could be expensive too. A leak needs checking - don't rely on the vendors to fix it properly - they might do a bodge job.

The first house I got an offer accepted on I got a full survey as they had an extension plus there was a gap between skirting boards and carpet in two of the rooms (same wall)., Glad I did as the survey showed structural movement and mortgage company pulled my mortgage., House I ended up buying had a much nicer feel to it and I only had the basic valuation survey. Didn't have any heeby jeebies about the property and there was nothing that flagged up to me except for things like boiler, shower not working, stuff I would have changed anyway.

I think it depends on the age, position and style of the house, the area and the surveyor themselves as much as anything. We had a survey done on a new build (because this particular surveyor had ripped apart our 2 year old house that we had sold and we wanted him to be as vigilant for our own new build) but surveyor didn't flag up anything that we hadn't already plus he missed several things. Complete waste of money on that occasion.

Hi guys, just FYI it's either a Building Survey or Homebuyers Report. The term full structural is/was misleading as most Surveyors aren't structural engineers.

The question to ask is, would I be prepared to gamble a couple of hundred pounds and skimp on the cheaper survey for the biggest investment that I'm likely to make in my life?

Always worth going Building Survey unless the property is quite new.

We purchased our first home in June with a Home Report- we are in Scotland. Not worth the paper they are written on. Moved in August...3 weeks later we had water pouring through the ceilings as the roof was "end of life" according to several roofing companies we had survey it with a view to repair or replace. Home Report had given it a 2 which states on going maintenance required. We ended up biting the bullet and fully replacing the roof. Not much fun 3 weeks in and skint!