BS surveys are usually only concerned with the valuation and on new builds can often be no more than a "drive by". On older properties the extent of the survey depends on age, size of mortgage and general state. Our last house a 1957 semi a mortgage condition was the standard have the wiring checked and it was pretty obvious why they wanted that. However, it was not a case of having a portion of the mortgage witheld as can sometimes be the case. I in fact was able to get an addition to the mortgage as the heating and plumbing was dire and we wanted to have all the disruption in one go.

It might seem perverse that BSs do not seem too concerned about the state of some property but they do cover their arses by making building insurance mandatory as part of the mortgage offer which kind of knocks the ball into the insurers court. The bottom line can the BS get its money back should they need to reposes?

Richard