Survey/homebuyers reports, are they worth it?

[Dinocan]

I was after some advice re the above on a 1930s ex council (I think) build. We know that it needs some stuff doing (boiler putting in mainly). Prepared for possibly having to rewire. It has newish double Glazing already. However it’s been lived in by the same couple for 30 yrs and does need modernising. I’ve heard SO many differing opinions on surveys and HB reports for a house of this age. Some say they’re not worth the paper they’re written on. Some say they’d never buy without them. I have a friend who had a full survey and a year later some major problem became apparent with her house that they didn’t even pick up. We have had a valuation from the mortgage company and mortgage has been approved, however we are only borrowing half the value of the house. I leaning towards the view that if the house was falling down it would be apparent to the person who valued it for the mortgage?! I guess it’s a long term ‘doer upper‘ for us and at this stage It would have to be majorly structurally unsound for us to pull out. Do we really need a survey?

I have only had one survey on a property and it was one I was already suspicious about and wanted to know the extent of the problem - I ended up not buying it , other property's I haven't as I usually intend on doing extensive alterations and modernising it once I buy and they are usually only flagging up stuff that will get ripped out and changed anyway , but I'm not inclined to recommend to someone on the internet to spend 1000,s of £ on a property to find it's sliding down a hill because they didn't get a survey done

Friend eventually got one - she didn't need a mortgage - and found out the house was essentially unmortgagable.

I never have taken out a survey, (4 purchases) and not been bitten yet. Usually you can tell yourself what condition/age the windows/boiler/roof/gutters/electrics are and budget accordingly.

I admit I do avoid properties that are very newly decorated as they could be hiding cracks/damp.

Our buyer has just had a survey on our house and it hasn't picked up one or two issues it has (minor enough things, wouldn't sell if it was major!) so it confirmed to me that a survey might not be worth the money.

Searches should reveal flood and subsidence risk.

I can never understand why people are prepared to make the biggest financial commitment of their lives without one. It’s a couple of hundred quid against a purchase of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Yes, of course surveys can’t tell you everything, but an experienced surveyor will spot (potential) issues that buyers miss. Just look at the thread on here recently about the house that flooded but the vendors concealed it. It was the not the solicitor, who smelled a rat and advised more investigation.

I would never buy without a survey, but I have always asked around and got recommendations, rather than go with the surveyor the mortgage company suggests.

*that should say, it was the surveyor, not the solicitor, who smelled a rat...