Knowingly mis-sold?

Beware if an estate agent advises you don't need a survey

This is the second survey that we have carried out for this client and we feel as independent building surveyors the estate agents have not been that honest when selling the property and are well aware of the many problems within it but have hoped that the purchaser wouldn't have a survey.

Very unusually the estate agents met us at the property and escorted us around. We are always concerned where estate agents take the time to show us around a property as we have lost count on the number of times that we have been to estate agents offices to pick up keys even when pre-arranged, known as KWA (Keys with Agent) and the estate agents have taken forever to find the keys. We certainly are well aware as a surveyor that the estate agents incentivise not to have surveys carried out. Normally we would talk to the owners and we would also have a question and answer session with them. When we enquired about carrying this out, the estate agent advised that the seller didn't want to be present during the course of the survey which we can sort of understand but it does very rarely happen.

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Speaking to neighbours uncovered problem neighbours

When carrying out our surveys we always knock on the neighbours doors. In this case we did a neighbourhood check speaking to the direct neighbours and also any neighbours that passed by. We discovered that next door had had problems over the years and were now under police supervision. They were happy to advise that there were police cameras on the house which is a situation you may or may not want to be living next to.

Property problems

This Victorian property had several major problems which fell into two main categories:

1. Lack of maintenance which although it doesn't sound very much, when it involves the roof not being maintained and you are looking at a new roof it is a costly lack of maintenance.

Slates opening up and displaced	Dampness coming in

2. Inappropriate modern materials used on an older building. The building had literally been smothered using cement render on the outside and a modern gypsum plaster on the inside and as such there were many cracks visible in it and in turn water had got in via these which resulted in a very damp building.

High level pattern staining	Paint coming away to render

Detailing In addition, details such as no drips above the windows and no bell mouth to the base of the render did also not help matters causing further dampness.
	High levels of dampness

Window drip	Bell mouth detail

Use our survey reports to negotiate purchase price

Many of our clients have contacted us following the survey to advise that they have used the survey report to renegotiate the purchase price of the property. For example in this case the property required a new roof which we estimated would cost in the region of £10,000 - £15,000; this information can be used to go back to the vendor and renegotiate.

Always have a survey carried out prior to buying a property

As mentioned above a survey report is essential when buying a property to establish if the property has any problems and if so to use this information to renegotiate. We pride ourselves on our professional and easy to read reports written in plain English which we have been carrying out for many years on every age, type and style of property across the UK.