House Survey Questions

• 1.  Which type of house survey should I get?
 - That's a really difficult question to answer as the survey you require will depend on lots of different things including the type of property you’re looking at and what you intend to do to it if you buy it. Here’s an article that goes into choosing your survey in a little more detail.


• 2.  I already have a mortgage report, do I still need a private survey?
 - It's important to realise that a mortgage report is a very basic report (typically carried out in less than 30 minutes) to enable the bank to make a lending decision. As such, the restricted time scale means its really easy to miss things. As an example during a mortgage inspection the surveyor inspects the roof void from the access hatch only.
  
  The bank may allow you to see the mortgage report, but it is not carried out for you so you cannot rely on it (as you are considered to be a third party).

In contrast an RICS survey is carried out on your behalf and is a much more detailed report looking at each individual element of the property separately. (Typically a HomeBuyers report involves up to two or more hours in the property so it’s possible to carry out a much more thorough inspection. 


  
  The RICS advise that “on average new homebuyers spend £5,750” (ComRes research on behalf of RICS) on repairs after they’ve moved into their new home. Which could potentially have been avoided by getting a more detailed survey.
  
  While It’s easy for me to advise you to get a survey, I’m obviously a little biased. So my advice to you is to speak to your solicitor and ask them if they think you should get one. (I’ll be surprised if they say no). 


  
  Think about how much money you’re about to spend on buying your house. If you were spending that amount of money on a second hand car wouldn't you want it checked by a specialist first?

• 3.  How much does a house survey cost?

 - Prices vary depending on the size of the property involved, but as a rough rule of thumb:
  - 

Condition Reports start around £325*
  - 
HomeBuyer Reports start around £390*.
  - 
Building Surveys start around £600*.

*NB prices are all-inclusive and there are no hidden extras. Plus I DON'T offer Building surveys so it will depend on who you are getting to do it. 


•  4.  What areas do you cover?
 - Although the majority of my work is carried out in the greater Belfast area, I still do a lot of surveys around Newtownabbey and Lisburn etc.  I work within a 25 mile radius of Belfast including but not restricted to Newtownabbey, Antrim, Lisburn, Bangor, Newtownards, Ballynahinch, Downpatrick etc.
 Request a call back if you're not sure if I can survey your house or not and I'll let you know.
  

• 5.  At what stage should I instruct you to carry out a survey?
 - There is no hard and fast rule as to when you should instruct your surveyor. Once you’ve found the house that you want to place an offer on you should probably instruct your surveyor as soon as possible. 
The reason I say this is because you’ll probably not want to put an offer in until you know if there are repairs required that you weren’t aware of and that may affect your offer price.

  

• 6.  How quickly can you do the survey?
 - This is affected by how quickly you can return the ‘Clients Instruction to Proceed’ form. 
  
  After we have an initial chat I’ll send you out some information sheets explaining things, along with terms of engagement and an instruction to proceed form. 
Once you’ve had a chance to read through everything and are happy you would send me back a signed instruction to proceed.

  
  We're usually quite busy and can have a lead time of anything from 1 week to 4 weeks, so it's best to speak to us and we should be able to give you an approximate lead time. Once we have carried out the survey we can typically have your report ready to go within  48 hours.
  

• 7.  Do you test the electricity and plumbing etc?
 - Neither the RICS Condition report or the RICS HomeBuyer reports include tests on services. A Building Survey may sometimes include a test of services by way of an additional service. But testing services has to be carried out by specifically qualified trades people which is beyond the remit of a chartered surveyor.

I do perform a visual inspection of services and I will provide an opinion on condition and whether or not I would suggest a qualified expert should be instructed to test them.

  

• 8.  Will you contact me prior to doing the survey?
 - I will always speak to you prior to going out to the property. It’s important to me to get an idea about what you intend to do to the property after purchase as this will help direct me during the house survey.


• 9.  How do I instruct you to carry out a house survey?
 - It’s really simple to get me to carry out a survey on your behalf. 
The first step is to get in touch by clicking here or requesting a call back here. Initially I’ll have a chat with you to discuss your requirements and help you decide on the best type of report for your needs. Then I’ll email you some paperwork which needs to be signed and returned before I can carry out the survey.


• 10.  How quickly will I receive the survey report after you visit the property?
 - I try to get reports sent out to clients within 48 hours of inspecting the property where possible.