Anyone's surveyor miss something big?

[Yellow544]

Recently bought a house and had a full level 3 building survey as the house is listed. We've only been in a few weeks and are seeing some big problems which need immediate attention. Spoke to a few other surveyors who all said those issues should have been noticed on the survey, especially as we had a building survey.

If we had know we would have asked for a reduction based on the cost to fix. We are now looking at 20k+ to fix, which we don't have right now. We just feel really disappointed that the surveyor didn't notice any of these issues.

Just wondering if anyone else has had a similar situation where a surveyor has missed something big? And did anything happen from it?

Were they chartered with the RICS? If they missed something major that should have been covered, I’d speak to the RICS about it. He / she should be insured for liability if they have missed something x

@Gettingonabitnow thanks for replying! Yes they were. Will contact RICs for advice thanks.

Yes we have similar and are wondering what to do about it

He seems to have missed a major roof problem plus bowing of the floor in one side of the house. Both major structural issues which have set us back 7 weeks on our building project.

I don't know how old your house is but our surveyor looks likely to escape because he put in a lot of disclaimers about the house being old. We are contemplating what to do next because the builder was amazed the surveyor didn't pick these things up.

Yep, something came up last week and the builder looked shocked the surveyor hadn’t spotted it. I read back over the survey report and there are “hints” of a problem but nothing specific and it’s not in the list of things to follow up. Also a level 3 survey.

Sorry to hear about your problems. Yes we're not sure what to do either. We spoke to a builder too who was shocked that the issues weren't mentioned in the report. We've started to look into a solicitor and making a claim on a no win no fee basis but there seem to be so many hidden fees. Think it would probably drag on for a really long time too and potentially waste a lot of time and money, instead of spending the time fixing the actual issues. It hard to know what to do for the best

Definitely. I think we’ll get a quote first for fixing the problem and make a call on that basis…

Yeah, our surveyor missed something big - the presence of a whole cellar! No one knew it existed, despite the stairs to it being visible inside the under stairs cupboard. I was cock-a-hoop when I found it because it was dry and it meant more square footage for the money. (The house was a probate sale)

Our house has some damp issues that weren’t picked up. But that was more because the survey was done in August, so they would have been invisible. Although the total lack of extractor fans doesn’t help either. The plumbing is pretty ancient, and we should have had the electric survey done. But that is our fault. The damp is really frustrating because it won’t be a cheap fix 😩 So not so much the surveyor, not really, but loads of stuff we didn’t expect.

Yes they missed something with an outbuilding that basically meant it needed to be demolished and built again from scratch with new foundations.

I complained, they passed the complaint to a loss adjuster who fobbed me off for a few months with offers of a few grand. I took them to the property ombudsman and won the average of three quotes to do the work. Was out of pocket a few hundred pounds for an independent report but that’s it. Took a year and was very stressful though.

We bought a house with three wood burners that are all not fit for purpose, the chimney sweep said they mustn't be used. It should have been disclosed on the contents/fittings form but there isn't a specific part for wood burners, there should be one

I know someone who found major structural issues that weren't mentioned on the survey but was told as they cost to fix was less than 10% of the house's value nothing could be done! The surveying firm then went bust anyway!

We had a level 3 survey done on our purchase this year and the surveyor strongly hinted at investigating a wall that should be structural but isn't - builder looked into it and we've had a steel put in to support it.

Yeah we’ve been hit with it. Our house has mica and the surveyor categorically said the house’s problems were not mica related.
Idk if we have any comeback at all but we’ve lost at least half the value of our house.

@greencarr that sounds a stressful experience! Who did you complain to, the surveyor company themselves?

@Davros I'm curious, what was wrong with the wood burners?

Lemie I don't know the full technical description but I could dig it out. When we got the chimney sweep in, she said they were dangerous and must not be used and put big stickers on them! I think it was to do with the internal structure and the technical requirements, plus the units themselves were old and not up to modern standards. We seriously considered redoing them but, at £5000 each, we decided against. None of them is in a central position in a room, if it had been the case that they were good to sit round, then we'd have done one or two.

Not in the sense that they 'missed' it but there were dozens of issues that they couldn't inspect. Surveyors are not allowed to lift up floorboards, open locked doors, look behind panelling or drylining. So the moment you start gutting a house, you are likely to find rotten, woodwormed or even totally missing joints, lintels, or loadbearing beams, or you find horizontal cracks or severe damp in the masonry hidden behind drylining. It's the joy of buying an old house. If the surveyor e.g. said the roof is solid and in good condition, but it isn't, then you should be able to claim compensation. If he said 'the part of the structure visible to me at inspection' or something like that, was OK, but that he would recommend inspecting behind the insulation boards, e.g., upon purchase, than it's not his fault if you discover the rafters are covered in dry rot. It makes you lose the will to live and pay for surveys, though!

@NellyBarney There were definitely a few hidden problems too which we have recently discovered! Wouldn't have expected those to be on the survey but the main issue wasn't hidden, and was immediately visible, and he did say in the report it was in good condition with no recommendations for repair.

@Yellow544 yes directly to the surveyor’s company. They should have a complaints policy. Basically in my case the surveyor clearly looked over the outbuilding from the house and didn’t inspect any closer (thus not seeing the issue). If I remember right I had to try and prove that the issue would have been immediately obvious during the survey and the circumstances worked in my favour as that wasn’t too difficult given the type of problem.

@Yellow544 also mine was a homebuyers report and not a full survey.

Long story but an RICS Chartered surveyor missed our house not having a mains electricity connection. We started to pursue a claim through our home insurance legal cover but ultimately were able to resolve with the vendor directly. We didnt have the energy to pursue a complaint, we were just glad to get it sorted. We spent 3 months living in the house running off a diesel generator whilst waiting for it to be sorted

Friends had a problem with a surveyor missing something big (meaning it would be unmortgageable if they ever tried to sell). 😬Eventually the surveyors' insurers paid up to fix it.

Oh no, I am sorry this happened to you. Would you be able to share your surveyor to prevent other people using them? Please feel free to message me privately. I am currently looking for a surveyor and do not want to use someone that missed something.

Oh no, I am sorry this happened to you. Would you be able to share your surveyor to prevent other people using them? Please feel free to message me privately. I am currently looking for a surveyor and do not want to use someone that missed something.