EAs recommended surveyor or independent?

[GreenBeeSW]

Hello everyone,

I've been lurking a lot on this forum and have read some really useful stuff. I hope the hive mind will be able to help now...

We've had an offer accepted, on an older, quirky build so we want a full "building survey" rather than just "home buyers".

Local, well reviewed surveyors we chose dont have availability until the beginning of November. EA is pushing us to use their recommendation who can potentially do it quicker (they want fast exchange as vendor moving to new build).

The surveyors they recommend are a big national company that subcontract to whoever's available. All RICS registered but they dont tell you who they are and I'm a bit wary about using a surveyor when we dont know their name, reviews, experience or anything really... could have bad rep or no experience with period properties... it just feels like a gamble!

Am I being over cautious? Would you go with EA recommended or wait and stick with local one we've chosen?

Thanks for the advice

Go for the local one definitely. Especially as yours is "quirky".

Alternatively, ask your solicitor for a recommendation? Nov is a very long time away!

That's what I thought but I asked our "second choice" local surveyor too, and hes also booked till November. I think the markets just gone a bit mad here. Thank you for the advice

I used an EA recommended surveyor and I regret it. He missed something huge on our house (the integrity of the roof) which would have effected the offer we put on the house. I complained but he said our builder was trying to fool us. We went ahead with the builder's advice (who is also a friend of ours) and it turns out the surveyor missed something. I still think the surveyor was dependent on the EA for repeat business, therefore he wasn't really working for us! Anyway...it's all sorted now...although I was advised by a solicitor not to initiate litigation, as it was likely to be very costly and I was unlikely to win (with all the small print in the contract)

I'm so sorry to that happened to you. Glad you got it sorted out but I'll certainly take that as a word of warning!