House Buying/Selling - unnecessary stress?

so you think the seller should have to instruct the basic survey, at their cost (which includes a valuation and points to any severe structural defects) then later down the line, the non-committed buyer asks for a full structural survey and you want the seller to also pay for that?!? I'm sorry but that is completely ridiculous!
It is not a requirement to have a full structural survey done, it is at the discretion of the buyer if they wish to get one, a lender would only ever ask for a full survey if there has previously been a mortgage retention on the property or the basic survey points to potential structural issues
 
the_r_sole said:
so you think the seller should have to instruct the basic survey, at their cost (which includes a valuation and points to any severe structural defects) then later down the line, the non-committed buyer asks for a full structural survey and you want the seller to also pay for that?!? I'm sorry but that is completely ridiculous!
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No. I think the seller should have to pay for a full structural survey from the outset, which is then given to potential buyers for free.
 
No. I think the seller should have to pay for a full structural survey from the outset, which is then given to potential buyers for free. Otherwise with only a basic survey the valuation and asking price is based on only a few things. It needs to be based on everything that can affect it, from market situation to location, size, structural situation and all the other normal factors. Then it's absolutely clear and day why the price is what it is, and everyone knows it's fair.
 
do you want to see the basic survey I have had done? it covers all of those things at a basic level, a full structural survey requires a lot more time (and potential disruptive works)
 
the_r_sole said:
why, when it is not (always) necessary?
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What do you mean? Nobody in their right mind would buy a property without knowing its structural condition. So the asking price should reflect the real actual condition of the property, which can only be known *after* a FSS has been carried out. Otherwise the valuation is not based on the actual condition of the property, but only its location, general size and market conditions and all that sort of stuff.
 
there are different levels of survey that you can instruct on a property and a full structural survey isn't always necessary and banks don't require them to lend on a property either, so why should a seller go to the expense when it is purely for a buyers piece of mind - I have bought three properties in the last few years and not one has had a full structural survey done, because the basic survey was enough for the bank to lend on it and there was no evidence of structural movement in the building, all works that had been done had their relevant certificates - and none have fallen down yet!
 
the_r_sole said:
there are different levels of survey that you can instruct on a property and a full structural survey isn't always necessary and banks don't require them to lend on a property either, so why should a seller go to the expense when it is purely for a buyers piece of mind - I have bought three properties in the last few years and not one has had a full structural survey done, because the basic survey was enough for the bank to lend on it and there was no evidence of structural movement in the building, all works that had been done had their relevant certificates - and none have fallen down yet!
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Yes I understand the various levels. But as I just said a FSS covers some things you'd consider minor that could potentially be major problems. Ok so the house ain't falling down, but all that wood flooring in the living room? Might be rotted. The boiler? On the blink. The electrics? Need re-wiring. That stuff should be covered by the FSS and could end up flagging up issues that could cost many thousands to fix.

What I'm getting at is that I think the buyer should know *exactly* what they're buying - not a general outline - "Hey it's standing up! Good luck mate!". It's just too risky. And even with a FSS there are still things that can crop up that weren't identified, so I'm aware there's always risk involved.
 
have you ever bought a second hand car?!
if you require that level of detail for a potential house purchase, they only way you'll be getting it is at your expense! completely unreasonable to demand that a seller pays for an ott survey just because a potential buyer wants it done
and you'll find that even the most basic surveys comment on the condition of floors, the age of the boiler/electrics etc - I'll offer it again, would you like to see what a basic survey report looks like before you continue with unfounded claims about the relevance of a full structural survey?
 
The problem here is that it doesn't matter what kind of survey you feel you want - all the lender wants is a valuation and rebuild cost for insurance purposes. As the survey is only a requirement of the lender then anything over and above the valuation is purely for the buyer and seller to worry about for their own peace of mind.
 
the_r_sole said:
have you ever bought a second hand car?!
if you require that level of detail for a potential house purchase, they only way you'll be getting it is at your expense! completely unreasonable to demand that a seller pays for an ott survey just because a potential buyer wants it done
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Yes I have and we're not talking about a few hundred quid or a couple of grand here. We're talking about hundreds of thousands! I don't think it's unreasonable to expect to know, to a great level of detail, what you're getting for that vast amount of life-changing money and commitment.

And if you're talking about what's reasonable or not, what's more unreasonable; expecting multiple potential buyers to all pay for the same survey, the data of which can be simply ignored by the vendor, or to have the vendor pay ONCE for that data, which can then be passed to these potential buyers to make an informed decision based on actual real information rather than market speculation and estate agent commission?
 
this is exactly why it is a requirement here to have a basic survey done on a property paid for by the seller!
a full survey is at the buyers discretion, if you are not happy with the risks of buying a house then you surely have to pay for the piece of mind?! to me that is completely reasonable
 
the_r_sole said:
this is exactly why it is a requirement here to have a basic survey done on a property paid for by the seller!
a full survey is at the buyers discretion, if you are not happy with the risks of buying a house then you surely have to pay for the piece of mind?! to me that is completely reasonable
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I don't think a basic survey is enough for someone like me to base a purchase that costly and important on. Maybe it's just me.
 
exactly - YOU don't think it's enough - but you want someone else to pay for whatever level of information you do think is enough, rather than paying for it yourself??
out of interest, have you actually seen the content of a basic survey to decide if it's enough? because they do comment on all the things you've so far claimed they don't
 
the_r_sole said:
exactly - YOU don't think it's enough - but you want someone else to pay for whatever level of information you do think is enough, rather than paying for it yourself??
out of interest, have you actually seen the content of a basic survey to decide if it's enough? because they do comment on all the things you've so far claimed they don't
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The full range of surveys are horrible things - sometimes drilling walls, bore-testing the foundations at several points in the house, getting access to parts of the house even the previous 3 owners hadn't seen...

Whilst there is merit in a single survey being done (to avoid further wasted funds of multiple surveys, as well as the inconvenience for the sellers having their house turned upside down many subsequent times), it is very costly, and often would put people from viewing - as any EA will probably tell you, the big sell happens if/when people are physically at/in the property. Emotions are more powerful than hard facts, yet hard facts of a survey will prevent the emotions from ever coming in to play.
 
Assuming a more detailed/full structural survey became a legal/mortgage lender requirement (I know this is not going to happen but let's assume)

Would making the seller responsible for this actually cost them money in real terms? As it's realistic to assume they would also be a buyer in the next part of the chain in which the seller of that property would be responsible for the survey and not them as the buyer.

If that makes sense.
 
Speaking as a first time buyer 3 years ago, I'll tell you my tale. I rented a house for 11 years, the landlord was strictly back seat and a 3 bed terrace in birmingham, handkerchief back garden for £400 was ok. After a few years he let me totally re-do the ground floor, I put in laminate, a new kitchen and bathroom, he even paid me for my time as well as the materials! So Myself and the wife could save serious cash, we lived maybe 20 mins walk from work, and the hospital was closing because a new one was built, about 3 miles away. We managed to get a big 60k set aside for a deposit. As such we had no problem getting a mortgage of 160k, BEFORE we started looking. So we looked and found a place, by now we had a child and another on the way! Still, we weren't part of a chain, we had everything ready to go, had our surveyor from the bank out to the house in 2 weeks, the vendor was renting and the tennants had gone 2 months earlier, yet still it took 13 weeks.. It's like the soliciters need to hang around to justify the 1.5k costs.. I was fuming.. by the time they got their fingers out, it started snowing.. bloody great when you're moving!

The whole lot is a swindle, an absolute joke, I still can't believe someone desperate to sell and someone desperate to buy can take 13 weeks.. when the money and all the paperwork is there.. The housing industry stinks badly, unfortunately it taints those connected to it. I've never met a single person or any of my friends who have a good thing to say about EA's or soliciters.. all out to screw money and cause stress.. what a nice life..
 
My word reading this thread fills me with dread. Planning on buying our first home next Christmas most likely. Made the fatal mistake of going on Rightmove and looking at houses already - school boy error, the Mrs has already seen some houses she loves haha.

Its going to be a long 12 months!
 
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