Where do you stand with Surveyors when they mess up?

[Pford75]

Thankyou for taking the time to post such comprehensive replies - there's no substitute for someone who deals with these issues on a regular basis.

I also agree that a clearer separation of valuation & survey would be helpful (to both buyers and surveyors).

One question for you though...you mentioned

If there is a general acceptance by the Courts that property valuation carries with it a margin of error of about 5% then it follows that diminution equating to less than 5% of the property value is likely to be considered within the margin of error and not awarded

I agree this would make sense if I had asked a surveyor to look at every aspect of a property. But firstly, most surveyors will exclude certain items as standard (electrics, plumbing, anything under carpets etc. etc.) and most buyers going to the trouble of a full survey are (if they have some experience) likely to direct the surveyor towards certain points and away from others.

So, my point is....if the surveyor has already excluded electrics, plumbing, damp, infestation and anything hidden by carpets or furniture - I wouldn't expect him to use the total property value as a guide (since he isn't giving me an opinion on total value). ie. If the house costs £500k and he has excluded all of the above...he has already excluded perhaps £100k of repairs.

Secondly, if I ask for an opinion specifically on the roof and nothing else....if repairs are missed....it's a 5% margin of error on the roof (not on the whole property) which is relevant.

I agree that buyers who want to spend only a couple of hundred pounds and get total comfort on their purchase are being unrealistic in the extreme. But if I spend a couple of thousand, solely on assessing the roof...I'd expect it to be pretty damn accurate.

 

[joe1978]

Thanks Steven, I hope your a touch typist otherwise that would've you hours!!
I know I was one of the concerned posters but I understand your points completely.

thanks again

Joe

 

[sarahj]

I have been rather anxious recently as we have been remortgaging our house after the end of fixed rate deal, and as we are going with a different mortage company was worried that their survey would ask us to do unreasonable things about the damp. Especially as we are knocking cement plaster off all over the place and exposing rotten skirtings and stuff! We got away last time with the surveyor recommending 'action' to be taken wrt the damp but was not specific.

However, this time, they have not done a survey at all, even with our cottage being G2 listed and built in 1837. Anyone else heard of being given a mortgage with no survey? (we are having approx 50% mortgage to value.)

 

[DJN]

Thank you all for all the comments;

I am in talks with the MD and have lodged a complaint with RICS, I may consider Small claims or RICS Arbitration Procedure.

The asbestos removal people further stated the surveyor wants to be struck-off if he could not distinguish between AC and Cast.

I did have concerns over the report that the surveyor had done and offered many times to revisit as I had concerns over it, he stated he was happy with his report.

This revisit offer was only accepted after I had complained, and I had exchanged some 3 months later, so no cost adjustment in house could be done.

The surveyor was made aware of the need to tap into the waste for a down stairs bathroom from day one.

The big cost was as a result of removal of the boxing running through the house removal and disposal of 15m of asbestos cement pipe, replacement with new waste, connecting up to WC and sewer and replacement of 10m of boxing, 3 trades in total.

rgds

 

[Lady_Mari]

Anyone else heard of being given a mortgage with no survey? (we are having approx 50% mortgage to value.)

Sarahj, Yes, I have.
We have just been in exactly the same situation as you & as this is a re mortgage it sometimes happens that the surveyor for the new mortgage company will only feel it necessary to view the property from the road (just drive by).

 

[Flyfisher]

Me too.
Bear in mind that the 'survey' for the mortgage lender is only to satisfy them that they can easily recover their money in case of total default of payments. For loans that are a small percentage of the property they will not care too much about the condition of the property, only that they can get their money back from a fast (i.e. low-priced) sale.

That's why you should never rely on the lender's survey as a guide to the condition of the property. The only thing you can really rely on is that the property value will cover the mortgage.

 

[Johneds]

David, I may have missed something - a lot to read above - but I can't figure out what was wrong with the pipe. Was it damaged in some way? And, if so, was the damage visible?

To reveal my interest, I am a CS myself.

 

[DaveBrigg]

We also remortgaged with only a valuation needed by the new lender. However, the original building society survey failed to spot that the house had a downstairs toilet, despite its door not closing properly, and a friend nearly lost a buyer after the survey on their house reported a problem with the flue - for an electric fire. It's good to hear that the RICS are looking at this issue.

 

[Wren]

I strongly believe that using professionals is important but ultimately the person who cares most about the outcome is yourself. I would use a solicitor to do the conveyancing but I also have spent hours carefully reading through the deeds and searches, and did some of my own research. The same goes for a survey - me and my partner and an interested friend or relative to go round the whole house inside and out looking for cracks, any wall with a lean to it, what state are the chimneys in, is there evidence of water ingress, lots of careful looking at the roof inside and out, etc. Then when you pay for a surveyors or engineer's report you can ask reasonably intelligent questions and point them towards areas you are concerned about.

The previous house we bought I paid for an independent Level 2 report. The Building Society charged me an administration charge (penalty for their lost commission) because I wasn't using their person, but I wanted the surveyor to have only our interests to consider. The surveyor advised me against the full level three survey. The comments either related to superficial obvious stuff (poor state of decorative repair), or the usual suspects (a bit of old woodworm and a bit of damp - to be expected in a house of a certain age). If anything looked like it was a problem the surveyor asked for a specialist report.

Our most recent househunt involved looking at auction properties in serious states of disrepair. To the extent that we were competing against property 'developers' who wanted to demolish and get planning permission to build on the site. No point really in getting a surveyor to tell us about the all-too-apparent extensive damp, woodroom, rot, roof problems etc etc and that we needed a specialist report. We cut out the middleman and went straight for a structural engineers report. We then proceeded on an almost worst case scenario basis. No way that with the amount of work required that you can get an exact figure for what it would all cost, but we made our estimates and when we pressed the structural engineer for a ball-park figure he came up with a similar amount.
(Brave, foolish...only time will tell.)