A survey is commissioned after an offer is accepted and before exchange, which is the only window in which the findings can change anything. Buyers who wait until the mortgage valuation comes back have usually lost several weeks, and buyers who skip it entirely are relying on the seller's account of a building the seller has stopped noticing.
When to book the pre purchase survey on house purchases
As soon as the offer is accepted. Firms are commonly booking a week or two ahead, the report takes days after that, and the report has to be read and acted on before exchange. Booking early costs nothing and protects the timetable.
Reading the red flags on house survey reports
Damp readings without an explanation, movement described without a cause, roofs at the end of their life, electrics and heating flagged as untested and old, and any recommendation for a further specialist report. None of these mean walk away; all of them mean get a number before you exchange.
Nervous about house survey findings?
Almost every survey on an older house finds something. The useful test is not how long the list is but whether the items are structural, expensive and urgent. A surveyor will usually take a phone call to tell you which of them they actually worry about.
Using the report on price
Get two quotes for the significant items and put those quotes to the agent rather than the report itself. A specific cost is a negotiating position. A general concern is an invitation to be told everyone else is fine with it.
Questions people ask about survey buying house
Who organises the survey when buying a house?
The buyer commissions and pays for it in England and Wales. Access is arranged through the agent, and the seller has to agree to it.
How long after the survey to completion?
That depends on the chain rather than the survey. What matters is that the report arrives before exchange, because after exchange the findings change nothing.
Can I get a price reduction after the survey?
You can ask, with evidence. Sellers respond to costed items from a report far more often than to the report as a whole, and a reduction is a negotiation rather than an entitlement.