Period building - Would you trust a sellers survey

[biffvernon]

In terms of what they can and can't do - can't lift carpets etc - .... What we can say for certain is that they WILL be insurable - Lloyds of London have confirmed this.

A surveyor that can't lift a carpet :evil: :twisted: :roll:
What is the point :?:
The whole thing is a scam put up by the insurance industry. And the thing has become compulsory. And who pays? All of us homeowners everytime we want to buy or sell a house. What business is it of the government to force us to prop up the insurance industry?

If I want a survey done I will find a surveyor who I trust to do an honest job without the featherbed of insurance. I will want to pay him/her for his skill, knowledge and effort. I do not want to pay a Lloyds name.

 

[Paul Hopper]

Biff

Thank you for your views

if only others viewed the situation as you do!

Pambrose is of course correct insofar as we who are qualified in an acceptable format will be able to get insurance, the policies will just cost more.

I do wonder what one will be paying £2000.00 for though.

If you are a competent experienced surveyor of a qualified ilk I would have thought that a standardised layout was all that was required. to have to pay further seems to me to refer back to my previous post about "rip offs"
As I commented before: British Waterways did this with their "Certificate of Compliance" inspectors and as always there are good and bad, As I recall, a friend of mine who became one such "inspector" paid about £2k for his training and support. There is however some considerable difference between a building and a boat (obviously!) so I will not belabour this particular comparison.

I cannot say I am in favour of the HIP at present.. I shall look forward to seeing the product if and when it comes about.

Paul Hopper

 

[biffvernon]

There is however some considerable difference between a building and a boat (obviously!)

Not so obvious to some - that's why folk think a house should be sealed from the damp. A breathable boat hull would never do.

 

[Penners]

A breathable boat hull would never do.

Well... that's an interesting assertion, Biff. Before the days of glass fibre, plastics and so on, boat hulls were definitely breathable. My grandfather had a lovely old wooden praam dinghy that - if it was left out of the water for more than a few days - would leak like a sieve. It then had to be sunk for another few days so that all the clinker boards would swell again and seal up. The process was called "staunching" and was common practice.

 

[biffvernon]

Yes, I was wondering whether anyone would point that out. Barrels have to be kept wet for the same reason and you lose the angel's share.

 

[siani]

i would *never* trust one. i would also refuse to allow most of them to perform the mandatory inspection on my own house when selling - i will instead be hiring a fully qualified RICS surveyor with extensive experience with period homes. i am convinced they'll just come running in with their little damp meters, sticking them into plaster and advocating tanking and worse than useless chemical DPC on my 3' thick rubble walls. i expect a home inspector to be *worse* than useless.

to be fair, i have never had a survey done on anything i've purchased, or that i've assisted friends or family with the purchase of. i am quite capable of measuring rooms and smelling damp myself, thanks, as is 90% of the population. this is just a cash grab, and another case of the government trying to protect idiots from themselves.

 

[Silas]

:?
I have heard that morgage companies will still want to do there own valuation survey regardless of the buyers pack... if true, whats the point of the pack. How useful or complete could a sellers pack be, for instance local searches (New development, roads, planning of disputes etc on the property) are only valid for a short time, so if it takes a while to sell a house they would need to be renewed, I remain to be convinced.