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Original poster

Has anyone not paid for a Homebuyer survey when buying a house?

17 replies

Kittley · 04/03/2022 12:15

Has anyone not paid for a Homebuyer survey when buying a house? We've paid for a Homebuyer survey previously in our first home however the house we're purchasing now is only 2 years old and is part of a new development. We bought the house fully aware of a leak in the ceiling of the lounge which the current vendor said they will get fixed before exchange but we will still get a plumber to properly check this before we move in.

Just wondering instead of paying for the £400 Homebuyer survey if we just use the money towards the plumber cost. Fully aware there might be some surprises however the property is currently empty as it was rented out so we've got a good idea of what we will need to have fixed (from our view anyway).

OP posts:

ilovefood643 · 04/03/2022 12:57

Yes, we didn’t get a survey on our last purchase. We were getting crazy quotes and decided not to bother after finding that previous homebuyer reports were fairly vague and useless. It’s a 60s build and we knew we would need to rewire/eventually get new boiler/kitchen/bathroom so decided to risk it. Haven’t found any secret issues yet….

InaccurateDream · 04/03/2022 13:01

Our house is 20 years old and we didn't, but... I knew the owner before last personally and she gave me their most recent survey. She could also be honest with me about the house. I was also friends with someone who lived in the house next door for a while (identical) and could tell me any issues. We really wanted to live there and needed money for stamp duty so decided to take the risk and deal with issues as they arise. We would've got one with most other properties, though.

Frazzled2207 · 04/03/2022 13:02

Yep currently buying a house and haven’t done a survey neither has our buyer.
House we are buying is only 15 years old. Building savvy husband is sure that any issues would be fairly obvious- there was one which is a potential flood issue so we spent the money on a flood/drainage survey instead.

Our house is 100 years old however and I think our Buyers are a bit daft not to get one

ImJustNotMeAnymore · 04/03/2022 13:06

We did pay for one and it missed an uninsurable unrepairable roof. Parents paid for one and it missed a lot of serious structural and electrical issues.

bilbodog · 04/03/2022 13:11

Current home was built in 2007 so we didnt bother but dont think i would do it again as we discovered that the render had failed and had to be stripped off and done again. Only through sheer luck did we find the original builder who arranged for it to be done again - otherwise it could have cost us around £25k! Not worth it to save £400.

Frazzled2207 · 04/03/2022 16:18

@ImJustNotMeAnymore

We did pay for one and it missed an uninsurable unrepairable roof. Parents paid for one and it missed a lot of serious structural and electrical issues.

Same here, surveys I’ve paid for in the past have not picked up on things that went wrong.

Mintine · 05/03/2022 04:03

We didn't have a survey on the house we are in now and it was built in the 1880s, but we've bought several houses by this point. My husband does a lot of work in the houses we bug and could spot most issues,but i realise it was a risk.
We could see that joists had been replaced in the cellar and that the 70's boiler needed replacing and lots of other jobs.

ukborn · 05/03/2022 09:36

I wouldn't bother with a house that new. It's still under warranty I presume?

Original poster

Kittley · 05/03/2022 11:18

The 2 year warranty with the developer has now passed however it's still covered for another 8 years by the NHBC build warranty.

OP posts:

Buildingthefuture · 05/03/2022 11:22

We never do, IME experience they aren’t worth the paper they are written on and we both work in construction, so we know what we are looking at.

gogohm · 05/03/2022 11:31

Never. But dad is a builder, I just get him to give it a once over

TheNoodlesIncident · 05/03/2022 21:21

To be honest, Homebuyer's Surveys aren't really worth it as surveyors are not allowed to lift carpets, look in lofts, peel back ivy outside or any of the slightly intrusive things you would need to do to carry out a proper survey. It would be easy to hide all manner of defects if you had a mind to.

Electrical wiring and appliances are not within their remit either so they can't try anything out to make sure it works nor make comments on them.

We didn't get one on our current house. It has loads of issues (thanks to previous "bodger" owner) but not a single one that a Homebuyer's Survey would have picked up on. We couldn't afford a decent survey at the time and desperately wanted the house, so took a chance.

A proper structural survey is much better, more expensive and worthwhile if you couldn't afford to do expensive repairs so would back out if anything significant showed up.

Ariela · 05/03/2022 21:26

I've only ever had full structural surveys.

CathyorClaire · 05/03/2022 21:29

Never paid for a homebuyer's report but have always coughed for a full structural.

TwoCoffeesPlease · 05/03/2022 22:01

We didn’t but we bought our house (1998) from DPs parents who had had it as a rental since DPs grandfather died. DPs grandfather had had the house since new. We felt we knew the house pretty well and actually moved in a few months before we completed. Couldn’t get a survey before because the tenants weren’t letting anyone round and by the time we could get a survey we were in we were already so invested we pretty much would have bought it regardless and had had a lot of time to look round and see if there was anything immediately concerning. It’s been 6 months, time will tell if it was a good idea although there were things we already knew needed doing (fixing retaining wall in garden, for example)

LaLaFlottes · 06/03/2022 08:10

I wouldn’t bother with one in your circumstances given the age of the house. We are in the process of selling a 6 year old house and if we were buying it I wouldn’t get a survey.

We are buying a house built in 1972 and did get a Homebuyers Report. I do get what people are saying about them not being worth it but we used an independent surveyor and he’s given us a fantastic report.

He’s been in the loft, lifted drain covers, had the heating on to check it works, made suggestions about things that are fine but would need doing in the future, suggestions about how to do these things - really impressed and feel it was good value for money.

BlueMongoose · 06/03/2022 09:42

NHBC warranties are not worth the paper they're written on (I've had friends who can testify to that). You're making a huge investment. I'd always have a survey myself. Homebuyers should be enough for a modern house unless there are specific concerns. The equivalent of the old 'full structural' on an old one, or one where you have any 'suspicions'.

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