Level 2 survey

[FluidDruid]

Have had an offer accepted and now looking at booking in survey. House is around 120 years old. Kitchen and bathroom are new. I was going to get a level 2 survey - can you ask for information particularly on render, chimneys, roof? Or at least highlight these are areas to check?

Look on the RICS website. We've gone for Level 3 given the age that is similar to yours

From what I have gathered on MN, you may as well pay for an experienced builder to have a walk around. At least then you won’t have to pick through a couple of dozen caveats.

@HellsBalls ha! There's probably something in that actually.

It is an older house so a bit on the fence.

Will mull over builder idea over the weekend

I would go level 3.

The one we where buying was 1890s house, looked cosmetically fine if not 'landlord/flipped' (white walls/grey carpets etc...) only visible issue was a little bit of salting (sign of damp but house that old all have a little bit of damp, nothing wet/badly damaged and we knew the airbrick was blocked so simple fix).

Turned out it had SEVERE structural damage, the council are now investigating its safety and if it needs condemning.

Things can look fine (in fact if something looks 'flipped' like that one I now think 'what are they hiding') but be big work under the surface.

OP I'm looking at a similar age house and planning on level 3 plus asking the surveyors to look at some specific concerns to the extent their form has that expertise in-house (and I will pay extra for that of needed), but fully expecting to have to get other professional opinions for any areas that firm of surveyors can't advise on.

We had a level 2 survey. It was very vague. Only thing that was raised and was written something like this, 'the roof could last weeks or years'! Turns out the roof was leaking when we moved in and has had constant repairs before getting a new roof last year.

If you are genuinely concerned about structural issues then you are much better off getting a separate structural survey done. A level 3 will just tell you about lots of possible structural issues without giving you an idea of how likely they are or what you would need to do to fix them.

Most people would go straight to a structural report if you are buying something KNOWN to have structural issues, thing is like with the house we offered on it could be hidden. We had a hefty budget to do a whole new roof, damp fixes etc... but it ended up being a far bigger job than that.

Its pretty hard to see things like unplumb walls or even some bowing etc... with the naked eye. Most houses we have viewed will not allow buyers in the loft space either to check the condition of the roof timbers etc... but they do allow professional builders/surveyors.

Level 3 survey checks these things and lets you know if you need an engineer.

The things I would really like to check are the roof, the render and the chimneys although I'm not that concerned about the chimneys. More because of they do have issues then the render and roof at least will be expensive. And they are not new.

Kitchen and bathroom are new as in done recently but for the family to live in rather than a bodged flip.

With the render they will stand back and look for evidence of previous patching, paint abnormalities, cracks, lose render, and then walk around tapping it to see if it’s hollow.
You can do that yourself, or a builder would know.
If they don’t have a drone, they will use a pair of binoculars to look at the chimney. You can do that also. A high power camera is useful.
They won’t be climbing a ladder to look at the roof.
Look for the dpc/ground level and drainage around the house.

Has the house had alterations/extensions? If so I would go level 3 for sure. If not, call the surveyor you want to use and ask their advice. My dc has recently bought a 1930s semi-he was all set to go level 3 but surveyor said a 2 would suffice. He still identified wall tie issues, small repair to the roof and couple of other things-they got several thousand pounds off the price, due to wall ties. Talk to your surveyor.