Is it worth getting a survey on our house before we list it for sale?

[AlexFurbison]

We're putting our house on the market soon and I'm wondering if it's worth getting a building survey done to try and ward off any potential problems. Has anyone done this and were you glad you did?

Our house is quite old but in fairly good condition - no leaks, damp or subsidence or anything like that. The external pipework is old but functions well and the path and courtyard stones need replacing - not sure if this is the sort of thing that gets flagged?

An estate agent mentioned that people are getting right to the end of the buying process then using something on a building survey to ask for a price reduction. It happened to our neighbour who had to drop their price by £15k or lose the house they were buying.

The survey is £650 so not small change and I know people might still ask for a discount but I'm wondering if our own survey might give us some protection - either as evidence or in getting ahead of something.

What do you think - worth it or not?

I never have. If I were buying a house I'd want the survey done by someone I'd instructed, personally, so I'd be having my own survey done even if the vendors provided me with theirs. I'd save your money, OP - if a buyer's survey raises an issue then I'd have someone look at that specific issue, possibly.

Yes. You will find out in advance what buyers will find out later. You might want to rectify some faults, or to say, upfront, that you have made an allowance for them in your price, to prevent them bring brought up later.

It will alert you to things you didnt know/to be aware of however of the buyer wants a survey they will instruct theit own

As a buyer I would always have my own survey done.
The only advantage in the seller having one done is you know what 'might' come up, but that doesn't stop an irritating buyer from a last minute negotiation.
There is an element of a survey that is subjective, on an old house it may say the roof is old and may need replacing. That doesn't mean right now, but a buyer could try it on and ask for a reduction to cover the roof.

I wouldn't trust a survey the vendors had instructed. Are you hoping buyers will pay you back for it?

How long have you lived there? How many issues could have realistically arose since you bought it?

Definitely not.

Absolutely not. This survey would not be for the buyers in any way, I fully expect them to have their own done (as I would in their position). This survey would purely be for us to get ahead of any problems and also maybe to be able to negotiate better if a buyer tries to pull a fast one at the last minute.

No, because no one other than you will have a negligence claim against the surveyor if the survey misses something which later is discovered and is material, so it’s of no value to buyers in the sense that they really need it.

the time for price reduction requests is immediately after the survey, which occurs soon after offer is accepted, not at the end of the transaction.

This was my thinking too.

I wouldn’t. But per the 2nd half of your post I would expect once the buyers survey comes back it would be followed by requests to lower the price, so i would plan my strategy accordingly.

I can see the benefit of it, using it in the way you describe.

We have lived here for 10 years. We have replaced gutters and installed new double glazing and things like that so it's in a better state than when we bought it.

The garden wall probably needs repointing (it goes down to the street below so not just the usual garden wall) but I'm not sure if a surveyor looks at things like that or just the house itself.

I think rather than instructing a survey just make sure everything is in good repair like what you have already done, so no leaks, no damp, subsidence ... Then when you do get a buyer, insist that the survey is scheduled before taking your property off the market so that any issues come up before the end of the process.

Ultimately though, the sort of buyers that are waiting till the end of the process to raise issues and ask for a further discount on the agreed price are the sort of buyers that will find a way to do this anyway so it comes down to you being prepared to walk away from the sale and find someone else.

If they are getting their own survey anyway then it's poinless.

Two buyers of our house had surveys. Not a single thing in common between them. One of the surveys said the kitchen was 'only just fit for purpose' and needed to be replaced. It was a 3 year old solid wood bespoke kitchen, and had cost £30k. It was a major selling point. The buyer pulled out which was a shame for her as she loved the house.

Piglet John is very knowledgeable.

If you have lived there 10 years do you still have the survey you had done when you purchased it?
We used ours as a bit of a tick list of jobs that needed doing.
If nothing drastic came up in it 10 years ago, you maintain it and perhaps have had work done that came up in your survey 10 years ago, then I wouldn’t bother doing one. It’s likely that it won’t have changed drastically in that time without you already noticing! So it would be a waste of money.

I think you are right re that sort of buyer finding a reason to demand a price reduction anyway. Thanks for the advice to leave the house on the market until the survey is complete, we'll do that.

@Bulbsbulbsbulbs that's shocking re the two different surveys - that certainly suggests its not worth us having one of our own done.

We do still have the survey - off to have a look at it now!

We did.

We have a Grade 2 listed cottage. Its in good condition and we take very good care of our home but you never know if there is something that we cannot see or recognise with an untrained eye.

We paid £550 for ours, and it was money we were willing to spend, so it gave us a 'heads up' if there were any issues found and we could rectify them before going on the market. But we also used it for our own peace of mind.

We know that many buyers will haggle on price after survey so we wanted to be able to go back, if a buyer said that their own survey had pulled up an issue, and say 'no there isn't'. As obviously buyers do not have to disclose to you what has been found in a survey report or what the surveyor has said. We just wanted to be one step ahead of 'the game' and be fully informed instead of in the dark.

We felt more in control of our sale by getting our own survey done beforehand and for us it was money well spent. It does all depend though on whether you have the disposable income to get one done and if you want the peace of mind that comes with it.

Surveyors are an unusual species. I’ve bought and sold over 20 properties and have been amazed at what has been missed and what particular issue they’ve got hung up on. So you can’t rely on one surveyor picking up what another might miss or missing something the other has found. I mean they put so many caveats in their contract ‘only what is visible’ and make assumptions that I wonder what they are getting paid for! I’ve had extremely thorough surveys and some (same level) that almost read like they didn’t get out of the car.
I haven’t had a surveyor find anything I didn’t already see myself, though I have had them miss something I was too inexperienced to spot which was picked up when I sold. And saying something isn’t up to current code is irrelevant if it was up to the code when built (Electricals excepted, but that is usually self evident and probably taken into account when priced). You know you’ve maintained your house. And your own survey can’t be ‘evidence’ of anything other than that surveyors incompetence if a subsequent survey reveals something drastic enough to warrant a price renegotiation. So I wouldn’t bother with a survey unless you have some worries (and yes they will point out the lose paving).

Exactly this ^

We've never instructed a survey on the house we've been selling, but have previously contemplated doing so for these reasons and would quite possibly do it in future.

I don't agree with @Elektra1 saying the survey/negotiations based upon it always occur at the start of the process.

We've sold eight times and several times the survey has happened towards the end of the process - on our last sale (400 year old mill in 2024) we accepted 25k under asking price at which point our buyers claimed they'd not be negotiating further reductions.

It was six weeks before their - full building survey - was done at which point the very friendly surveyor assured me he'd found no major issues with the property and they'd have the results imminently. Almost a month later our buyers finally decided they'd need a specialist septic tank survey, still assuring us they wanted nothing more off. They then demanded an additional 20k reduction which - as our purchase was ready to exchange - we negotiated to 10k. We exchanged on sale and purchase five days later.

I wish we'd had our own survey ahead of marketing.

@ErlingHaalandsManBun my husband said exactly what re being able to go back and say "no there isn't."

Thanks @mondaytosunday that's a useful perspective and good to know re the pavers.

@LibertyLily those buyers sound awful! We haven't been in a chain before so I'm bracing myself and also trying to think of ways to make it easier. I might just have to accept that it's going to be an awful process!

I didn’t say price negotiations “always” occur at the start of the process, I said that the time for them to occur on the base of a survey issue is immediately after the survey. As others have said, any buyer who doesn’t raise issues then but waits until everyone’s more heavily invested in the transaction at the end of the process, is going to try to pull a fast one anyway. And those tactics are ones you should be ready to walk away from, unless you are desperate to sell.

That was so silly. Why was the surveyor even commenting on that type of cosmetic work?