Would you bother with a survey if the current owners only bought the house last year?

[CatAndHisKit]

Just that really - I want to save as much as possible, and I@m assuming they've done a survey. They look like tidy couple and looed after the house well, so very ulikely any damage occured since then.
I also wonder if they could pass the info from their survey to me for the sake of speed?
As a side note, what is the current cost of a survey on a 3-bed semi?

Of course you need your own survey. And they're very likely not telling you the real reason they're selling.

How much have they increased the price, btw?

Tiny thank you very much! not sure if tey'll go far East in the region, being in Birmingham? but will ask, it's not happening yet but I should need te nsoon hopefully.

ShTown wow I'm not scared enough into having the survey! The vendor told me they've just recarpeted and painted the smallest corner bedroom - a bit suspect to do it a week before the sale -might be just a bad spill but what if the paint hides some damp horrors etc! Mind you most people know that a buyer would do the survey so a bit pointless lying.

Re knotweed - do all surveyors inspect the garden? I can't remember them doing it when I was buying my house.This is also a bit of a worry as there is overgrown garden next door - but I assume it's very hard to mask by just using weed-killer or moving it! Still you say a surveyor 'spotted it' so it means it asnt really noticeable .

This is mytime a lot!! about 17%
it's the current house buying hysteria for the lower price range 3-beds especially. It's hte agent who valued it highm I'm sure as they overvalue all similar houses on their books atm. I think the sellers will accept a lot less by the vibe I got. I'd only offer in line with what they paid last year as some work needs doing (I've just viewed, not offered yet - but eerything moves very quickly currently so need to decide tomorrow).

They are blatant piss takers.

Flamed It doesnt bother me enough not to make an offer, but it's not a pleasant sight from upstairs windows. As I mentioned, no house has been perfect so I'm trying to compromise. I also hope it's temporary - but as the vendors not been there that long, I wouldn't know if there is a pattern.

And yes, that's exactly what the vendor said, that they are quiet and only there part of the time (second home somewhere, I m guessing, an older couple) which sounds ok if not ideal.

When you say not to believe them but to check - how would I check re the neighbours? impossible really.

This pretty sure they didn't expect this valuation at all, it's the agent who 'guided' them. It's gone ridiculous right now with multiple offers on similar houses but as this ome is a bit more expensive (and bigger) there's less of a queue so far.

It's not 'impossible' to check about neighbours, you just go round and knock on a few doors, ask general questions about the area and then 'is that house currently occupied' or something and see what people say. Plus you wander around at different times.

You sound like you're feeling pressure to do this quickly tbh.

We bought a house that the previous owners had only been in 5 months. We asked for a copy of their survey and a list of any works they'd had done, and then got a different company to survey the house so we could compare the results!

Get your own survey. It really doesn’t matter if they are ‘tidy’ or nice or you ask questions about the house etc.
I recently sold, answered all qs honestly, filled in the property question are honestly etc and the buyers’ survey discovered a pretty major issue I had no idea about, wasn’t visible etc. Led to understandable change in offer amount and nearly lost the sale !

Buy in haste and regret at leisure.
OP - do your due dilligence. Seriously.
Knock on the neighbours door. Drive past the house in the evening, sit in your car and experience the street. Ask at the police station if there have been any complaints/issues with the street or that address.
Get your own survey. Always.

And do a good online planning check with local authority. Applications are obvs of interest but also public comments on applications (including those refused)/enforcements) often disclose things of interest.

If they had a survey done last year I'd ask to have a copy of the previous survey if they had one done, I'd then contact the surveyors to see if they could do a discounted survey as there are unlikely to be any major changes in one year.

We did this recently as the previous sale of our new house fell through last year. The intended buyers had a full survey done then pulled out of the sale due to personal reason. The survey given to us suggested no problems so we made contact with the surveyor and they agreed to do the survey at half price as they were unlikely to be any changes

Same as poster above - we were 'assigned' a survey that had been done for a previous buyer about 6 months previously (but sale had fallen through). The estate agent told us a survey had been done, we got the surveyors details and they went back to the house for a half hour visit (to check their old survey still applied, nothing had changed) and issued us with a new survey. Cost about half the price if a new survey.

So many red flags... not sure how interested i'd be in that house.
Reselling in under a year. Neglected house next door and redecorating a room immediately prior to sale?

My experience is a 300 survey is virtually worthless, 500 mid-level is also fairly useless as no specialist skill required. i literally did one myself on property i was buying having watched a guy do it on the place i was selling (its essentially a checklist)
A full and proper survey is £1.2-1.5k.

@CatAndHisKit I'm between Mansfield and worksop and they did mine so shouldn't be an issue

@LadyFrumpington

So many red flags... not sure how interested i'd be in that house. Reselling in under a year. Neglected house next door and redecorating a room immediately prior to sale?

My experience is a 300 survey is virtually worthless, 500 mid-level is also fairly useless as no specialist skill required. i literally did one myself on property i was buying having watched a guy do it on the place i was selling (its essentially a checklist)
A full and proper survey is £1.2-1.5k.

IME (from over 30 years ago admittedly, but I doubt if it’s changed) the quality of the report depends on the individual surveyor, not how much you pay.

We got a Nationwide homebuyers report on one house & it was full of so much damning detail we withdrew (thankfully, as it turned out, since we ended up in a much nicer town )

Subsequently, for a house in a town 20 miles away, another Nationwide homebuyers report - done from a different branch of the same company - was so vague it was (as it turned out) fairly useless.

There was a lot of “house was heavily furnished so couldn’t look at xyz” (it turned out to have some wet rot in joists, with bouncy floors & big gaps under skirting boards, but we were total novices ).

Just a quick note on the neighbours, the people that are selling are obliged to tell you/the solicitors if there have been any conflict/disagreements/disputes etc with the current neighbours.

If they don't disclose any disputes and then you somehow find out they had an ongoing argument about something for the duration they lived there and its now impacting your life, they are liable to be sued. Double check on the neighbours

You might want to google the street name in case anything comes up from the local paper. Also look at the Sold Prices on Rightmove to see how recently the house next door last sold, old photos etc. Streetview occasionally throws up interesting things.

Neighbour disputes only have to be declared if you've gone down any sort of formal route, which leaves a big grey area otherwise of bad behaviour and feeling. Does the house itself also look neglected or just the garden?

Extra yes, I've done that, that's how I know the vendors bought it last autumn, and had a look at other houses.The house looks ok, they've eeven put some flowers in the front window.
optimistic I know they'd be liable in theory, but I've never dealt with vendors moving abroad before - I very much doubt it's doable sueing them once they are gone. Vendors do claim that the neighbours aer quiet and not there much.
These are not the attached neighburs 9it's a semi) but the other side.

LadyF thanks, that's my experience too - the surveys aer quite superficial, but agree with another poster who says that it depends on the person doing it rather than the price.

labyrinth yes I'm under pressure as my buyer is waiting and also there is interest in this house from others. I eally can't see how knocking on doors would help - not everyone would be happy about it especally with covid thing about visitor, and I'm risking someone being unpleasant to me. But mostly, I can't imagine that neighbours would tell negative things about their immediate neighbours. If someone knocked on my door this way. I would feel it wasn't my place to 'tell' on my neighbours oppositre who can be loud (a couple having rows) now and then and even police been called - but no violence. It's just feels wrong somehow. I do agree that it's a good idea to look at street records/police stats.
But re the house next door - -they are likely to be hoarders rather than in trouble with police or neighbours. I'm more concerned about it from hygiene issues (anything crawling into my garden from theiirs) and the aesthetics.

sorry for the many typos, labyrinth - am being distracted.