Property Surveyors

[tiggerblue10]

What do they look for and can they reduce the asking price of a property if there are any issues?

[jackthehat]

You need to separate selling a house from buying a house..... :o)

A person buying your house (with a mortgage) will need to convince their mortgage company that the house they are buying (i.e. Tiggerblue Towers) is worth the money they are asking for. The Mortgage Survey report will be constructed to satisfy the money-lenders that they will get their money back should your buyer default. That's all it is.

However, the buyer of Tiggerblue Towers will want to make sure that there are no nasties...dry-rot/wet-rot/woodworm/subsidence/Japanese knotweed, etc. which will cost them additional monies to sort out in the future. If there are, they will make a reduced offer on Tiggerblue Towers to take account of these issues.

A buyer may not have a mortgage and so not need the former....but any buyer mortgage, or not, ought to have the Structural/buyer's survey carried out.

[tiggerblue10]

Thanks all :o)

Hope there is nothing wrong with Tiggerblue Towers!

[woofgang]

APG when we bought my current house (admittedly a while ago) the mortgage folk did not require a survey because of the size of the mortage we needed versus the value of the house.

[AuntPollyGrey]

woofgang - How did the mortgage company know the value of the house if they did not send out a surveyor/valuer?

[woofgang]

APG I have no idea.

[AuntPollyGrey]

//APG I have no idea.//

ok..........lol!

[woofgang]

actually thinking about it APG, you can get a ballpark figure by knowing how old the house is, how big it is (bedroom count) and the postcode. It should be easy enough to check that the house is worth more than the mortgage if the mortgage is small.

[AuntPollyGrey]

Woofgang:

I've been in Estate Agency & Management for 25 years plus. Anyone can value a house for marketing purposes, you need no qualifications or be a member of a professional body ( though most who work in the big agencies do) Its even easier these days with Rightmove publishing sold prices way back to the late 1990's to find out historical sold prices .

Mortgage valuations are not based on market values done by an Estate Agent, they are based on property value that has to be done by a registered surveyor or valuer, and take into account LTV among other things.

Mortgage companies do not take the word of the Seller, Estate Agent or even historical local pricing when making a firm offer of Mortgage. They always instruct an independent registered valuer/surveyor to do a valuation/survey for Mortgage purposes. This is not to be confused with a 'Survey' that the buyers may initiate themselves for peace of mind that the property they are thinking of buying is habitable and free from major constructional defects.
If you are buying a house with cash then , although strongly advised, it is not obligatory to have any kind of structural survey done.