On Wed, 9 Jul 2003 09:32:17 +0100, "Dave" wrote:

We are in the process of buying our first house a 4 bed semi built 1950's we
have been given the option of three different types of survey, Standard
valuation, Homebuyers report, Full structural survey and I'm not sure which
type we would be best having as this is all very new to us, can anyone offer
any advise please?

For peace of mind you really want the most expensive. However it's
money thrown down the drain if the sale doesn't go through.

Several years ago we went to have a chat with the surveyor who was
going to do the job for us. We agreed the following which he was very
happy to undertake.

Basically we said full survey, and we'd cover the costs of the work.
Wasn't terribly expensive. But he wasn't to produce the paperwork
until the point in time where we'd exchanged contracts (just enough to
satisfy the solicitors at that point in time). And the instruction was
that if he found anything serious then he shouldn't proceed without
referring to us first.

It's the production of the report that costs the rubles, because
basically the surveyor is sticking his neck on the line to say "yep, I
checked all this and it has my name against it". You can sue him if he
missed something obvious.

With this surveyor our first house fell through due to the usual chain
difficulties, but we used him on the next one. In the end we paid for
only one "real" survey.

So my advice would be to go and chat with your surveyor and see if you
can work out a deal.

Andrew

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