How worried to be about homebuyer's survey

[likeamother]

Recently had HBR done on 1940s property. It says something like 'property is in reasonable condition if you are prepared to accept the cost and inconvenience of dealing with the various repair works reported. These deficiencies are quite common in houses of this age.'

But then goes on to list what feels like a million problems or potential problems. Do HBRs list literally everything that could go wrong or would they not mention it if it wasn't an issue?

E.g. I totally accept the ventilation and insulation isn't as good as it's an older house, but it then mentions things like 'Timber is liable to rot and beetle infestations are common in houses of this type.' - It sounds general, but is that a warning? Or the surveyor covering themselves? It's not saying there IS an infestation, but is it hinting it's likely? I don't know how serioiusly to take it all as it doesn't make for comforting reading and there are lots of potential issues like this mentioned.

I'm clear on the definite problems - a small amount of rising damp, a roof issue etc. and will go back to EA, but worrying a little about the above.

What's the general consensus with how these reports usually work, please?

It sounds like the standard coulda and mays. Dies it also recommend full specific surveys?

Yes, continuously! Is this commonplace then? Are they covering all eventualities? So frustrating as other than a few obvious points I don't know how much else to actually pay attention to.

Yes they do cover all eventualities. I had one done on a house I was thinking of buying which mentioned that road noise might be bothersome - as if I'd not noticed that there was a major A road 100 yards away!!

I think most of them operate on a green, amber, red system. Check the red ones - these are the ones that might come back to haunt you, i.e. out of date electrics.

Whenever you buy a house you are signing up to continual maintenance

Why not just call the surveyor who did it and ask them?

Thanks for the replies. It reads at first like it's all hell and damnation but statements are usually preculded by 'often in these types of houses...' or 'it's possible some decay of the timbers built into the walls may be present but it would be expensive and disruptive to assess this.' - so I'm thinking there are actually no signs or evidence of this?

Thanks I'll go over the red ones properly. I think the only other red one is the garage, but I could tell it was on its last legs when I viewed and I suppose I reflected this in my offer already.

@Sprig1

Why not just call the surveyor who did it and ask them?

Do you mean ask their actual true opinion on whether I'm buying a hell hole or not? Would they be frank, do you think? I assumed with all the caveats and cover all statements they won't be. It would be great if we could have an honest conversation about it though.

As I understand it, when you have a basic homebuyer survey they don't do anything to actually investigate whether there are issues. They will report that there is an issue if it's clear (to the trained eye) without investigating but you will always get a list of things that 'might' be a problem in that sort of house/build type but they haven't investigated.

If there are possible issues (eg infestations) that they have indicated are not uncommon in that age house that would be a big problem for you could you perhaps ask a local surveyor (or possibly even a builder depending what it is) to have a closer look for you. There would be a fee for this but I suspect that if you can narrow down exactly what you want them to look at it will be less than just getting another survey.

I have always found them happy to be honest, at least to a degree. I would be honest with them, say that you are new to this and would like to know which aspects of the report you should really worry about. You will probably find they will say something like, most houses have issues x, y and a but issue b is more unusual. It never hurts to ask.

I think they’ve thrown the kitchen sink at this to cover their backsides against all possible eventualities!

Share the report with your estate agent as they can advise you too.

Check if any work had been undertaken and if there are any guarantees in place. You can always renegotiate the price to take into consideration any costs to repair any work.
If anything really worries you then ask for additional checks on the timber obviously at your cost.

We had a very long report of this nature on our house. I doubt a surveyor would find no faults. In your case it sounds like a lot of them not even found.

@Sprig1 Thank you - I will do this tomorrow then. Would be great to get something a little more specific and concrete.

@SJaneS48 Yes it is feeling a bit like this. Which would be a relief if that's the case!

@boriselbow - thanks, this is good advice. I'll see what the surveyor says tomorrow and go from there.

Thanks everyone.

When I’ve had reports, have always discussed with surveyor. On one, there were a number of things called out, and a retention on the mortgage, but when he spoke about it he said it’s a good house for the money and as long as we accepted it was an ongoing project (and we did) then it was a good buy. On another one he said ‘if it was my daughter I’d tell her not to touch it with a bargepole)! Walked away from that one 😁

@CottonSock

We had a very long report of this nature on our house. I doubt a surveyor would find no faults. In your case it sounds like a lot of them not even found.

Yes I guess it's working out tomorrow hopefully which are just general 'might happen with an older house' rather than 'signs of/this is inevitable'. 40 pages of warnings left me a bit but my hunch is a lot of it is 'things to maybe watch out for in future' rather than existing problems.

Go through it with a fine tooth comb. What are the actual issues now. You need to expect future maintenance. Our report sounded like a literal disaster. Luckily my dad had forewarned me. It's Victorian so a potential money pit, but not been as bad as the survey. We did get a builder to check some structural things. Others we did take a gamble on, which I guess paid off.

Honestly, I found our homebuyers survey completely useless & wouldn't bother getting one again.
It was basically a copy/paste template, with a few obvious details unique to the house we were buying thrown in.

With surveys nowdays it’s a wonder anybody is actually brave enough to buy houses ☹️

The surveyor has to mention every possible issue in the written report as if they’ve missed something (or failed to mention it) you can sue them. I find over the telephone they are more than happy to give a more pragmatic opinion so deffo give them a call.

The problem is a Homebuyers Survey is really only suitable for newer properties, it’s only just one up from a condition report so it has a lot of, this is likely type scenarios.

On an older property it’s best to get a RICs Building Survey, it’s usually more comprehensive, includes solutions and is also sometimes costed depending on experience of the surveyor.

Def speak with them, you are their client.

If you'd have gone for the full structural survey you'd have fainted clean away. To the untrained eye surveyors literally condemn a property and make it sound like a strong gust of wind will blow it clean away. They have to cover themselves legally. Speak with the surveyor, ask them to simplify any issues, focus on the items highlighted red in the survey, negotiate on them with seller if possible and if you still want to go ahead then deal with any urgent issues when you move in. Try and speak with anyone knowledgeable on any points as well. I had that initial panic but a few days of due diligence, reading and re-reading survey and you'll feel better.