Estate agent / vendor not keen to wait for surveyor

[EarthSight]

I'm a first time buyer, who's not in a chain. My offer on a house has been accepted (yay).

The estate agents were on the phone straight away asking me to send them details of my solicitor so they can start the process.

I let the estate agents know that I intend to organise a residential / homebuyer surveyor to visit the house, and they'll be doing a Level 3 of it, which I think is the most in-depth survey. The property is around late 19th century, although not listed, thankfully. I don't have major concerns, but older miner houses like this are really known to be prone to damp (I've seen quite a few examples of it), and I think the roof might not be that new.

Although I can afford to buy, I'm not from an affluent background and can't afford to be nonchalant about paying for repairs. I strongly suspect that I've already overpaid for this house already by a few thousand by giving them the asking price, so if I was informed there would likely be repairs to do, depending on the cost, I would consider adjusting my offer or pulling out.

Unfortunately, I called a few surveyors who didn't have availability until a month & half away. The estate agent isn't keen to wait until mid-August to get this survey done, and I totally understand why. I've been told the vendors already found somewhere, but I'm unsure if this means they've actually made an offer and it's been accepted, or if they've seen somewhere they like and want to proceed before they miss out. I've been told the house has also received another offer before they accepted mine. I have no idea how much for, but if it's in cash, and it's for not much less than my offer, then the vendors might decide to go for that offer instead if it's quicker.

I understand the whole point of surveys is to inform you about the house, so if I paid £800 to have this and the vendors wouldn't accept less then it would be crappy but I'd consider it well spent to be fully informed.

However, if I also started the whole conveyancing process this early on, only for the house to fall though, then surely I would wasted £500 - £1500 on conveyancing fees which could have been avoided?

What are your thoughts on this?

Don’t let them bully you into not having a survey, that would be a red flag to me. They know your position, six weeks isn’t actually that long other paperwork can be done in that time (something else may also come up in that time in the legal process which could make you want to pull out and therefore save you paying for a survey) and their onward purchase could take even longer. Have you had a sale memorandum issued?

The other offer will still want a survey even if it’s cash. You might be able to get a lower level survey quicker but if it’s an older house then the other offer might want the same survey as well and have the same issue.

@Dairymilk99 @CraftyNavySeal They weren't suggesting me not to have a survey, just indicated that this was a rather long wait before starting to do the paperwork, which they wanted to get going in the meantime. Totally understandable, but then wouldn't I have to pay the solicitor fees from that point? I initially only wanted to start the paperwork process after the surveyor had been round and if the sale was still actually going ahead.

Right yes, but any other buyer is likely to have the same issue and is unlikely to want to start searches before a survey.

The seller and the estate agent can complain all they want but the same problem remains.

Thanks @CraftyNavySeal . Just wanted to do a sense check to see if my expectations are particularly unusual. I guess I'll have to weigh up if this is worth me loosing the house as maybe they won't mind doing as the estate agent suggested.

Well what is the most expensive bit, the bit before the survey or the survey ?

My guess is the survey by some margin.

So in some ways you are better off completing the other stuff and making sure it is all OK before you do the more expensive bit (the survey).

Of course if you think the survey is highly likely to throw up problems you can wait to do that first.

But to some degree you have to show some willing and to prioritise your interests over everyone elses to absolutely minimise your outlay for the sake of a couple of hundred quid some people might consider a bit greedy and unreasonable and they might be willing to go with someone else who shows a bit more willingness to move things forwards faster.

How much does the stuff before the survey cost ?

I thought that conveyancing costs can be £500 - £1500? I'm not sure how this approach could be considered greedy. More like sensible? Like I said, I'm not from an affluent background. Maybe middle class people can afford to take a more relaxed approach to a few hundred quid here & there, but the majority of the population can't @GasPanic

They would be gambling that any other buyer wouldn’t do exactly the same thing though.

The seller can either wait, sell to the other buyer and hope they won’t do the same thing or offer to reimburse you for your legal costs to get things moving.

I would expect you to give the name of your solicitor to allow the EA to send paperwork over to (memo of sale etc). You can then instruct your solicitor as to how much work they do or don't do at this stage.
Not providing solicitor details at all until after your survey isn't normal, they are usually provided immediately on offer acceptance.

How much is the house costing ? You don't hold up large deals for the sake of a couple of hundred quid if you are a serious buyer.

I doubt whether you would get charged the full amount anyway if it didn't exchange.

No, you are prioritising your interests at the expense of theirs. Which is fine. But don't be surprised if as a result they decide to prioritise their interests at the expense of yours.

If I were them and I wanted to sell quickly and someone was stalling for weeks to save a couple of hundred quid and another party wasn't I know what I would do. Especially if I was interested in a fast sale.

You can get a sollicitor on a no sale no fee contract, this way you will show your seller that you are a serious buyer while limiting your risks.

I can't remember exactly but I pulled out of one place because of a tpo and I got all my money back minus £100 (the tpo was revealed on the searches). As Reno2023 says ask or find a solicitor to limit your risk.

One final thing you may want to think about is that if you are seriously cash limited buying houses up to your limit that may need repairs is pretty risky.

Because even level 3 surveys can miss stuff and you can be landed with pretty hefty bills as a result. Surveys normally come with all sorts of caveats like "good for its age" and "determined to the best of our ability".

You can instruct a solicitor to start the searches now and even if it all falls apart all you'll lose is the money for the searches - about £250 in London. Many conveyancing solicitors only charge you if the whole sale goes through.

Ask the estate agent to recommend a surveyor who is able to complete the survey more quickly. They will know which one’s act quickly from their experiences with other buyers & properties. Make sure the surveyor is qualified and is a registered chartered surveyor.

I’d be more keen to just get online and find someone else to do it, there are online portals to get quotes and contact details for surveyors.

I had one organised within a week by using a comparison platform

tbh waiting until mid August is a bit long and as a vendor I would be a bit put out as that is just for survey. I wouldn’t let them bully me into not having one of course but I would try to find a middle ground

I'll call around more tomorrow and have a further look at solicitors this evening.

YOU control how much work your solicitor does. I would appoint your chosen one with clear instructions not to do more than X until the survey results are in. It's fine to do that but don't mention to the agent you have requested your solicitor hold back.

As others have said it is the norm to instruct a solicitor first & then proceed with the survey. I would definitely ring around to try & find a surveyor with more availability. To be honest you don’t want to be waiting until mid August either. I can see why the vendors want to get things moving. If a buyer didn’t instruct a solicitor within a week of having an offer accepted that would be a red flag for me. In fact the estate agent we sold our house with was chasing us for our solicitor details within a few days of us accepting an offer!

We have had to wait 2 weeks for our buyers survey- it was the earliest day that the surveyor could do- and the agent phoned all on the panel. It is a mid-level survey

They have obviously done the searches etc- once the survey comes then we want to exchange asap. I wouldn't wait until mid -August I would have gone back to one of the others who wanted to buy.

"sorry estate agent, but this is what's happening as I won't be purchasing without a survey."

They don't care about you, they just want the sale. Hold your ground and protect your own interests.

You must be mortgage free- otherwise the bank would be arranging the valuation and possibly survey?

I'd ask more surveyors that's not really a common waiting time. You should really get the searches going as well in the meantime as they can take a while and you might start to make your seller think they should look for another buyer if you're dragging your feet. Always fine to renegotiate if surveyor finds something major

I'd second what someone else said, choose a solicitor but ask that they don't do any of the drafting of contracts etc until you get survey results that means they can check your Id (cost £15 last time I did it when I moved)
You show you're serious but only risk losing a small amount.

Tbh any seller is going to expect you to Organsie a solicitor and get moving after they accept your offer so you're coming to the same problem even if you choose another house!

The way the English system works is shit and puts you at risk until exchange you're not wrong I'm afraid!

A bank will organise a valuation, to check the property being purchased is suitable lending security for any mortgage that might be taken out against it. But this may not be a physical inspection, depending on the LTV% amount. Could be a desktop or drive-by.

It would be incredibly unusual for a bank to arrange a survey, although not unheard of for a buyer to upgrade the valuation to a survey, where the same person does both parts.

But the OP doesnt mention that and that can happen straight away. You can often upgrade that to the survey that the OP mentions but they seem to have skipped a valuation and gone to find an independent surveyor- which isnt how it works.

If the host his suitable for a desktop then a deeper survey would usually not eb required as it would typically be a low risk house.

No need to have a survey if that valuation doesnt come back in line with sale price.