How a RICS Level 3 Survey could help you renegotiate the price of a property

A survey should never be an after-thought when you are buying a new place to live. Most mortgage lenders will insist on a HomeBuyer's Report or RICS Level 3 Survey when you are buying with a mortgage.

But a quarter of home buyers (24 percent) who were quizzed by Which? in 2016 said they hadn't bothered with any kind of survey at all, while 15 percent bought only with a mortgage valuation survey, which isn't actually a survey at all.

The fact is that commissioning a chartered surveyor to carry out a property survey will not only alert you to any potential issues or defects but can also give you a platform potentially to re-negotiate the sale price where a serious problem is uncovered.

In that same Which? Survey, 47 percent of those questioned said the survey they had had done revealed minor problems with 8 percent saying it had uncovered major issues. Tellingly, 43 percent then went on to buy the property at less than the price agreed before the survey, using its results to get a better deal. A quarter (24 percent) said they had used the survey results to get the seller to fix the issues before contracts were exchanged, potentially saving themselves thousands in future repairs.

At Surveyor Local, we work only with chartered surveyors who are members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the body that promotes and enforces international standards in land and real estate valuation and management.

Whichever survey you choose, the results can help you make the right decision on whether the purchase is right for you. While it may reveal no issues, you can rest easy knowing it was money well spent to have peace of mind. And where any problems are exposed, you have time either to re-negotiate the selling price, to persuade the seller to make the repairs or to pull out of the sale altogether.

Talk to Surveyor Local's expert advisors today for advice on the best survey for the property you want to buy. We work with chartered surveyors across the UK and their intimate local knowledge is priceless.