Buying a house without a survey

Buying a home is a significant undertaking that is filled with pressure: whether it's financial due to finding the funds to buy it, or if it's more the sheer amount of work and form-filling that needs to be done before you can get hold of the keys.

Part of the job of buying a new property is working out what you need to spend your moving budget on. And one of the questions to ask should that budget stretch to include a survey?

Often it is the non-compulsory items that are ignored or deliberately avoided in order to save money or to take something off the seemingly never-ending “To Do” list.

A survey is an inspection of a property by a qualified Chartered Surveyor, who will investigate the building, its construction and seek evidence of potential problems and their sources.

There are three types of survey:

• Property Valuation Report- as the name suggests, this is an expert valuation of the property you are looking to buy and is the most basic of the available surveys. It's a professional valuation that gives you the reassurance you need to go ahead with its purchase in the knowledge that the purchase price is correct.

Note that the Property Valuation Report does not go into any detail on problems and issues with the property itself, and neither is it the same as a mortgage valuation.

• RICS Level 2 Homebuyers Survey - the next level of survey gives a detailed overview of the structure of the property, its condition and information on any visible defects.
• RICS Level 3 Survey - the most comprehensive of the surveys provides analysis of the property's structure, its construction, providing in-depth assessments of the problems identified and their causes. 

The surveyor will use a number of techniques and tools at their disposal to check, measure and analyse their findings to provide their client with all the information they need about the state of the property, the seriousness of any identified issues and an estimate of the cost of any remedial work that might need to be done to rectify the position.

Mortgage valuation

Often, buyers assume that the valuation report required by the mortgage lender is the same document as a structural survey, so question why they should go to the expense of ordering another one that provides the same information?

However, they are very different reports, because the mortgage valuation does not cover any of the internal checks and investigations. In fact, it is little more than a visual assessment by a surveyor of the outside of the property to confirm whether the value of the property is sufficient to cover the risk of loaning you the requested mortgage matched with the surveyor's knowledge of the local housing market.

It might highlight some issues as observed from this cursory analysis, but, since there is no information on the internal issues that might exist nor of the seriousness of their nature, the mortgage valuation report should not be relied upon for such details.

The conveyancer's searches will uncover some of the more serious problems

In the same way, reliance on what your conveyancer will unearth in their searches should be met with severe caution. 

Once again, the findings from the searches of the environment and the responses from the local authority will highlight any significant issues to do with the site of the property and its environs, but it won't give a detailed analysis of the fabric of the building, nor how serious any of those problems are.

The property “looks fine”

Sometimes, though, deciding not to invest in a survey is a specific decision that's made based on perceptions of the building when looking around it during one of the many viewings. 

Because there might be no obvious evidence of major problems - slanting floors, cracks in the walls, the smell of damp or rot, the telltale signs of rodent or insect infestation and the list goes on - you convince yourself that it's not worth the time and expense of order a survey.

It's also quite understandable that a property's age is a factor in the decision not to take out a survey - if it's a new-build or is not that old, it's not unreasonable to expect that the property is in an acceptable condition. But newer properties are as susceptible to potentially serious problems as older ones.

The seller hasn't had any problems

When your seller puts the house on the market, they will be required to fill in a number of conveyancing forms that describe the property, including the Property Information Form (formally known as the TA7). 

While this will possibly give some pointers as to the existence of any issues, coupled with the information from the conveyancer's search enquiries, the details on that form should not be taken as confirmation that the property is completely sound.

The cost is too expensive

Unfortunately, one of the first casualties when it comes to shaving costs from the moving budget is the home survey. 

The cost of a survey needs to be considered very carefully, of course, but it is nevertheless an important part of your plan for moving home.

But will those decisions come back to haunt you?

According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), they estimate that around 80% of homebuyers forego the decision to have a proper survey done on their home, while other studies by mortgage brokers, conveyancers and surveyors also pitch their findings at around the same number.

That means that some 4 in every 5 homes are sold without any meaningful assessment on the structural integrity being performed.

Taking out a RICS Level 3 Survey, for example, means that your assigned Chartered Surveyor will spend a few hours at the property to investigate it thoroughly, looking for any and all of the following:

• Asbestos - the substance was a much-vaunted miracle substance because of its fire-resistant properties but has since been found to be linked to serious health conditions and is now iollegal for use in new construction. As such, where it exists, its removal requires a specialist (and potentially expensive) firm.
• Damp - obvious signs of damp come in staining of walls and ceilings as well as the growth of a variety of moulds, all links to breathing problems for those that live there. Often, it's an indication of poor or absent ventilation, or poorly-installed windows or doors.
• Rotten window and doorframes - any problems will require part or complete replacement, with a recognition of potential planning requirements for homes in a conservation area.
• Subsidence - a problem that is often expensive to remedy, subsidence is created by hollows opening around the home's foundations, resulting in the weight of the property pushing into the void.
• Heave - related to subsidence, this is the result of the soil around the foundations expanding and providing an upward or outward force on the building's walls.
• Leaking roofs - with increasing numbers of severe weather events, it's critical that the roof structure is sound and that there are no loosened or missing tiles, or weakened roof trusses and joints.
• Leaking chimneys and flashings - similarly, damaged chimneys or the flashings at the point where it meets the roof can lead to other problems within the roof and the ceilings and walls below.
• Dry or wet rot - evidence of this shows problems with the damp proof course and other structural issues.
• Damp cellars - affecting the walls and floors in the rooms above, subterranean rooms can show symptoms of problems with the ventilation and the impact on wooden timbers and other construction materials.
• Wood-burrowing insect infestation - commonly called woodworm, these insects lay their larva in the wood, which burrow through at the pupation stage to mate, turning the wood to a powder and weakening the strength of the structure.
• Invasive plants - the most common species mentioned in the news is Japanese knotweed, but also includes ivy, bamboo, buddleia and a number of others, simply because they grow rapidly, seeking out cracks and expanding to damage the structure.
• Ageing and dangerous utilities - electrics, gas, oil and water will all need to be checked for a level of safety (note that the Chartered Surveyor is not an expert nor are they licensed to take these components apart - they will only give the state of these utilities a visual check plus take any readings where it is safe to do so).
• Fire damage - where there is evidence or foreknowledge of previous fire damage, the surveyor can check the remedial work to verify its suitability.
• Snagging - for a new-build property, you can also get a snagging survey, which is a professional assessment of the outstanding problems which need to be resolved by the builder.

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, but it does highlight what you'd be getting for your money when you order your property survey.

Ultimately, the survey is a good source of information to feed into your decision-making process as to whether buying the property is a viable financial opportunity or not both now and ongoing from a maintenance point of view. 

Obviously, the more detailed the report that you order, the more information you have to assist you in making any decisions regarding continuing with the purchase of the property, or, armed with information on the cost on remedying any serious issues, help you with renegotiating the asking price - or even pulling out of the purchase altogether.

Want to line up one of the best local Chartered Surveyors to look over your property and provide you with an expert and detailed survey? 

That's why it is really worth contacting Surveyor Local!

Call  to get your survey quote started, or to discuss your concerns with the acquisition of your planned property and any issues with the cladding.