When you buy a property and need a mortgage, most lenders will send a surveyor to look over the property. This is known as a mortgage valuation. It is designed to advise the lender if the property is suitable as security for the mortgage; basically, if you didn't pay the mortgage repayments, would the lender be able to repossess the house and resell it to get their money back.
Whilst most, but not all, lenders will send the buyer a copy of the mortgage valuation report, it is only a basic form.
If you want to have a more in-depth survey carried out on the property that you intend to buy then you will need to instruct an independent surveyor to inspect the property for you. If you are paying cash for the property that you are buying then your solicitor will undoubtedly advise you to obtain an independent survey.
Whilst we are Chartered Surveyors, we can't do a survey on a house that we are selling due to a potential conflict of interest. We can however recommend other surveyors who would undertake a report for you.
Most firms of surveyors have a range of different reports that will go into varying degrees of depth. Most buyers who have an independent survey done opt for a report known as a Homebuyers Survey & Valuation. This will give you all of the basic information that you are likely to need.
The thing to remember when reading any survey report is that the surveyor is not setting out to make the property look good but rather to cover all of the relevant potential bad point! When you get your survey report back we suggest that you re-visit the property so that you can see any potential problems for yourself. Problems are often never as bad as they seem on paper.
