Unexpected survey is stressing me out

[Alittledreamcake]

Our house sold within 5 days of listing and we then went on to find 2 houses we liked. First fell through after a terrible survey and all is going well on the second. It's been nearly 3 months since ours sold and we'd presumed as we'd paid for an electrical test to be done in our house and the contract to sell has been signed, that our buyer had got a cheaper survey done of our house and it had come back ok. Wrong! We now have a surveyor coming on Monday who has informed us he will be extremely thorough (to be expected but why say that?) Our house is quite old and a bit tired in areas so I'm wondering if there's any little things we can do over the weekend to help a bit? DP is going to work on our bathroom taps as they are a bit loose and I'm going to do some general tidying and cleaning (may not help as I know it's all structural and practical things he'll be checking but I thought it probably wouldn't hurt). I know we can't work miracles and mostly, it is what is it but any ideas on little things we could do?

Tidying up and cleaning is a good idea. It won't affect the outcome of the survey materially, but it creates an impression of a reasonably well maintained home, as well as making it easier for the surveyor to access areas they need to inspect.

I don't think the taps will matter, or tired decor. But there's no point trying to cover up anything major (like painting over damp).

Try not to worry too much. Who knows why the surveyor said what he said - it's a meaningless comment. Do you know if it is a Level 2 or 3? Ultimately, whoever you sell to is probably going to want to commission one or the other, so if the worst happens and the sale falls through because of it, you should ask for feedback so at least you will be able to address any major issues (or reduce the price) for next time. But the most likely outcome is that it will either be OK, or lead to some renegotiation on price. If you had any really big problems you would probably know about it already. How old is the roof?

Honestly, I doubt anything you do will affect the survey. It will be what it will be and with an old house, there will inevitably be some issues mentioned. Maybe start preparing yourselves for a little re negotiation after the survey results are back?

My daughter got a level 2 survey on a Victorian flat and it sounded like the place was falling apart so a level 2 can still be scary. But most buyers are prepared to still go ahead as long as there is nothing too terrible like subsidence mentioned. If there is something big like a new roof needed than your buyer will probably expect you to knock some money off the sale price.

Your house hasn't sold surely, if you are still in it and the buyer is doing a survey? Surely you have only accepted an offer which means not very much at all? Or am I misunderstanding?

But contract to sell beinf signed do you mean you have exchanged? There isn't any other contract involved surely?

You sign contracts, then exchange them and then complete.

until exchange it's "sold subject to contract"

(in England)