Housebuyers survey on 2.5yr old property?

[Daffy711]

I’m buying a property built in Feb 24. By the time I complete it will be January at the earliest so approximately three years old by then.

What type of survey would you recommend having on a property that is 2.5/3yrs old?

Would you recommend a level 2 homebuyers survey or will level 1 be sufficient?

Where do I search for a surveyor?

How much roughly would a survey cost depending upon which type I have?

Thanks

If it's part of a new build development, have a read of any Google reviews or trustpilot reviews of the builder, or even a FB residents group to see if they're reputable. Some cut corners and houses can come with a long list of snags, some can be structural, some builders can take up to 2 years to rectify all the snags, some even longer - although hopefully it's all good with no issues. We've always gone with a surveyor recommended through our estate agent as usually they move faster, I think our last one was around £500ish

LakelandHiker is exactly right. Do as much research as possible on the developer/builder in terms of how well their properties are built and problems buyers may have had. Particularly search for info on issues within the actual development too. If that throws up more red flags than you are comfortable with - then get an independent survey.
Be careful on price too. Most new builds loose money on the new build price in the first few years - unless they manage to sell to someone who is unaware. So make sure your survey includes a value appraisal too.

I’d be worried why they are selling so soon. Many new builds are terrible quality and some people would rather sell than spend more time fixing it.

Id search the estate on facebook groups etc

You’re covered under the NHBC warranty for structural issues for 19 years. However I’d still do a homebuyers survey, as if it does happen to throw something up you can then renegotiate the price if necessary.

Development is finished. Gets good reviews on trustpilot and Google. Do you think a Homebuyer level two is needed?

Development is finished. Get good reviews on trustpilot. 4.9 and good reviews on Google.. Can’t haggle it’s Discount To Market if I don’t buy it someone will pay the asking price there is a queue. Discount To Market resale new builds are going like hot cakes where I live. This house has gone up by £25,000 in two years. Mortgage Valuation has come back and has passed. Do you think a homebuyers level two survey is needed?

It’s a Discount market property and you have to satisfy the criteria. They are now moving in with their partner and both buying another new build together. Likely they earn over the limit and don’t satisfy the Discount To Market criteria if she moves in with him. I’ve had a look on Facebook, Google trustpilot gets good reviews. The developer gets 4.9 on trustpilot. 4.5 on Google. I’m more concerned about whether to have a survey and what type.

NHBC warranty is 10 years. Plus any Work has to meet the excess limit or they won’t pay anything.do you think it’s worth doing a homebuyers level two survey? I can’t renegotiate the price is Discount To Market if I don’t buy it somebody else’s right behind me in the queue who will pay the full price. Discount market properties are selling quickly getting snapped up where I live. I’ve already lost to this was my third attempt at getting one.

Developers always get that. They get people to write reviews when they haven’t even moved in yet! They’ll write things like lovely sales team.

Yes 100% get a good survey with a house of that age. That’s good they have a valid reason for moving.

Ask them if they had the property professionally snagged when they moved in and if so, ask for a copy of that report. That would suffice for me.

If not, then go for the survey but recognise that they wont be as thorough because they wont move anything to look for issues and they'll probably cover their backs everywhere so you can't hold them to account if they fail to spot something.

All houses have 'problems' some are bigger than others, won't the big ones be covered by the NHBC warranty? The mortgage company are happy, maybe take a builder round? Have a chat with a few neighbours and see what they say about estate problems?

what You want is a professional snagging survey. It costs £3-600, depending where it is and size, and would be more useful with a new build than a homebuyers survey.

Hi, they didn’t have a snagging survey, but that would have been good if they had. It’s too late now for me to have a snagging survey isn’t it at the 2.5 year point? I’m guessing house buyers level two is my only option at this stage? What makes you think they won’t be thorough and might not spot things?
It’s tricky with a survey. I feel like I need one just in case, but I also feel like they just don’t find things and they’re not really worth the paper that they are written on even though they’re not cheap to have.

If you watch the snagging videos on YT you can see that they are primed to find as many faults as possible - albeit many are minor. But you see them out with their level everywhere and in the attic pulling everything apart. They are usually operating in empty properties.

In a furnished property, surveyors typically wont move any furniture to look behind, or pull up any carpets, etc. Then they'll couch their results in terms such as "we were unable to ...". Useless. I'd probably trust a family/mate builder more than a surveyor.

Yes, that’s what I’m thinking. I think I’ll ring three places get a quote. Discuss this with them and probably go for that. Thanks.

Get the best one you can I lived in a new build it was horrendous they had those spotlight lights everywhere that hurt my eyes so we used lamps a lot then we needed work done in the loft turns out they had neglected a critical part when fitting the lights and the insulation was right on top of them getting hot and melty (the insulation was in those big silver plastic bags so it was good we rarely used them plus there was something missing in my roof which meant that a huge shelf of ice developed in it during winter we all slept downstairs then the housing association moved us along we also had crumbling concrete flooring and a few other "issues" never been so glad to leave a house

😬 wow, my last two houses were new builds when I moved into them. Never encountered anything like this. You did have bad luck there. The house has been lived in for 2 1/2 years now so I’m hoping that there won’t be anything serious, and if anything did flag up, it would just be some minor bits and pieces.