Buying a flat, is a survey needed

[shingle]

Just a bit of property advice needed.

Shingle jnr is buying a flat, top floor of a three story. Should he have a survey done at a cost of £600 odd. His solicitor has said she has a legal duty to advise yes, but off the record says its really not needed. Is it wise to get one done anyway?

 

[Triggaaar]

It depends on the building (age, construction, general condition) and your experience with property IMO. You don't want to buy and then find there's a huge amount of work needed which you have to pay a share of. It also depends if you're paying top dollar for the flat - a survey showing things need a little work can mean getting a bit of the price, but if you're already getting a good deal then you're less likely to get money off regardless. You might be able to get a survey for less too.

 

[SeagullCrow]

Absolutely - it'd be madness not to when purchasing something as expensive as property.

My surveyor reported an issue with the roof of the flat I was buying, and was proved right when I was lumbered with a £4,500 repair bill 18-months down the line. Fortunately, I managed to use the survey to reduce the purchase price by a similar amount.

 

[shingle]

Cheers Triggaaar

 

[Perkino]

I wouldn't risk it, they didn't find anything on our house except a bit of aspestos in the roof but as I know very little about buildings it is a must.

Since we've lived here I have undertaken several diy projects and would hope to spot most internal issues but for such an expensive purchase you want to ensure you won't get stitched with over paying or having to pay out for repair works. Especially in a block of flats which could have all sorts of arrangements for repairs

 

[melias shoes]

The answer is yes.

 

[Wrong-Direction]

I'll have a quick butchers for half that price

Sent from my SM-A310F using Tapatalk

 

[HantsSeagull]

no point in getting a structural survey of a flat. most sensible building surveyors will do a version of it called a condition report.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Just a bit of property advice needed.

Shingle jnr is buying a flat, top floor of a three story. Should he have a survey done at a cost of £600 odd. His solicitor has said she has a legal duty to advise yes, but off the record says its really not needed. Is it wise to get one done anyway?

It is advisable, as there will be shared costs most likely for the upkeep of the building etc. so it is just the condition of the individual flat. What I would suggest is don't necessarily go with a surveyor recommended by the agent. Agents notoriously get paid by their 'recommendations' and it generally isn't because the people they are recommending are any good. Go on the RICS website, get yourself a couple of quotes for a pre purchase survey.

 

[Chicken Run]

no point in getting a structural survey of a flat. most sensible building surveyors will do a version of it called a condition report.

Can you recommend a decent surveyor Hants[emoji23]

 

[HantsSeagull]

Can you recommend a decent surveyor Hants[emoji23]

no. i have heard you can though....

is your holiday so boring, you are on here?

 

[shingle]

Thanks everyone

 

[Chicken Run]

no. i have heard you can though....

is your holiday so boring, you are on here?

No but sitting here in a bar at Hollywood Burbank Airport watching Arse v WBA waiting for my flight to Vegas is[emoji23]

 

[Biscuit]

If you're spending over £100,000 on a property, having a survey is only sensible. Would you sign a player without a medical? £600 is pittance in the scheme of things and a small price to pay for piece of mind.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

If the solicitor said off the record that you don't really need a survey, I think the solicitor is very silly. Where would you and they stand if something went wrong

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

A survey is not necessary, by that I mean, not mandatory or a legal requirement.
However, if you're buying a property with a mortgage there won't be many lenders who will lend you the money without first checking, by way of a survey, the the condition of the property is sound. And they expect you to fund this.
If you're a cash buyer and the place has serious defects, you need to convince your [buildings] insurance policy provider it was sound when you bought it - or have some spare cash set aside to repair/renovate?
Property developers who e.g. buy from auction will rarely have a survey done - they expect things to be wrong and usually have the expertise and budget to put some pretty major defects right - if this is you, you might not want to spend £600 getting a list of everything that's faulty on the property before buying it.

A wise man who is also not a property developer / builder will [happily?] pay for a survey to ensure he's not buying a whole heap of trouble and expense. If it's a top-floor flat, as a minimum, I'd want to know e.g. the roof condition ....

Some people choose to have the AA do a check over a car they are thinking of buying - that's a bit like a vehicle survey. Ask yourself why someone might do that ....

 

[clapham_gull]

Amazed a solicitor would say not bother with the survey.

Amazed a lender would give a mortgage without one.

I had the FULL survey done on this place. Glad I did. A few thousand spent on fixing a damp problem that I negotiated off the asking price.

 

[beorhthelm]

theres three levels of survey, cant recall the names.
1. valuation survey. cheaper, ~£200? mortgage lender will require this. checks there is a property and its worth approx the value claimed, about it.
2. medium survey. about 500-600 someone checks everything in the house but wont actually check anything properly (not a trained electrician, plumber, engineer or anything) and produces a report say thres electricity and water, no massive cracks signs of subsidence or anything, but doesnt know or certify the condition of anything.
3. full structrual survey. £1200+ an actual engineer checks everything, will tell you if theres been problems and likely repair costs.

last one you dont need for a flat (unless you can see that it might need further investigation), second is sensible reassurance of your opinion its sound property, first wont get a mortgage without.

 

[BNthree]

Went to buy my first property, which was a flat, and was unsure about surveys and all this. Got persuaded to get a full survey and so happy I did as turned out the building had subsidence and was actually being held up by scaffolding round the back, but due to shape of building you couldn't see this from the flat or entrance at all.

 

[cloud]

I have had two top floor flats, both of which got water damaged due to a leaking roof.

In one case this led to months of hassle to get compensation for redecoration, and in the other case years followed by legal action, as the freeholder was elsewhere and ignoring all correspondence.

Both times the mortgage lender had done a survey for mortgage purposes, which I never got to see. Years later I paid for my own survey on a house and was amazed at the sheer amount of detail provided. It would have been great to have seen the survey on the flats, rather than it getting chucked into a filing cabinet somewhere.