When you decide upon a house, does your potential mortgage lender send a valuer round to value the house you are going to buy, or do they take the valuation provided by the seller of the house?

Pat...

mine used the estate agents

usually its your company that will send one to make sure they could get there cash back if the worst were to happen

the mortgage lender will have the house valued, usually at your expense - look for the valuation fee in your set-up costs. More often than not they use local surveyors to carry out the valuation.

Last time I sold a house, the guy came to do the vaulation on behalf of Nationwide - he was there for all of 17 minutes and didn't really check anything.

They need at the minimum a valuation that you pay for.

Usually this is done by the surveyor you instruct to do a survey. You'd be mad not to do the minimum of a home buyers survey and on an older house a full survey.

they usually need to send someone round to do a mortage valuation survey.

This is not an indication that they will carry out a full survey of the house to find any problems. It is up to the buyer to get a full survey if there is any doubt about the condition.

HTH

Mark

Whoa there were no replys when I started typing.......

4 people can type faster than me

Is it worth me sorting one out and getting a full survey now before I start the ball rolling and then it will all be ready when they ask for it?

Pat...

how old's the house Pat?

If it's very new, it may still be covered by some guarantees.

Personally I have neve bothered with anything more than a homebuyers survey which costs about £4-500. This is more than a basic survey, but not a full survey.

HTH
Nick

valuation prices are based on property value and are costed in bands, the reason for a valuation is so that a mortgage company knows how much the property is worth so they know how much to lend against it, the valuer will have a brief look around, mainly cosmetic and presentation, then he will look at other similar properties in the area and give an average, surveys are always paid for by the purchaser unless you have to much money and want to give it away!!

if its your house you're selling pat, just leave it for the buyer to do the survey. If they are too slack to bother, then theres no point doing it yourself! The actual valuation is done for the mortgage company even though you pay for it, beware that the valuer owes you no duty of care, which seems odd since you pay them. If they value it wrong, its your problem and you have no comeback unless you instructed them yourself and paid directly.

Valuation would be for the house I intend to buy.

House was built in '69.

Currently being finished by a builder who I know and trust who bought it at auction and has completely gutted it and replaced everything.

Is it easier to just go ahead with the mortgage and let them sort it all out?

Just trying to speed things up a little.

Pat...

A basic valuation can be basically a "drive past" valuation - I saw it in the agreement I just got! What a cheek £90 to drive past... what a f*****g liberty!!!

The law has recently changed I believe regarding the surveying... I belive the seller has to provide his own survey to prevent multiple potential buyers all from having the same survey done. Makes sense but would you trust the seller to do this? Nothing personal Pat m8!!!

The mortgage company will want to their own survey regardless (which you will have to pay for)

If the house more than say five to ten years old you may wish to have a full survey carried out for your own peace of mind. if the house is something like 20 years old or more it's better to know about the dry rot in the roof for example before you buy it, than afterwards when it's too late to avoid paying another 50 grand to have a new roof put on.

all depends on the property really. I have a mate who bought a house - he has been buying houses without getting surveys all his life, the latest one has some possibly serious structural defects arising from alterations that the previous owner did himself (he was a builder.......) these were not apparent at the time of viewing as the cracks had been freshly decorated over - but started to appear with in a couple of weeks of moving in.

Caveat Emptor - Buyer beware is the law here at the moment.

Hope that helps

Mark

If you're considering a propper survey, think carefully. I have been heavily stung by a useless £400 survey. Quite frankly, it was incompetent.

We were ready to sue but were advised that it would be a waste of time.

I will never pay out for such a survey again

A full survey (if done by a competent professional, get personal recommendations! Jon appears to have been stung by a cowboy) can more than pay for itself on an older house.

Not only do you get a very good idea about what will need doing, but they always read as if the house is about to fall down - usually giving plenty of room to knock a couple of thousand off your offer price ("well it will need a new roof soon, and that wall is damp, and the window frames are beginning to rot, chimney needs repointing" etc etc etc)

Homebuyers surveys aren't cost effective unless it's a newish house.

The surveyors were recommended by the morgage company.
They missed :
The need to replace about 25 joist ends
Major rebuilding of one wall
Leaking gable wall needing lead capping

[Edited on 7/4/06 by JonBowden]

Valuations can be done by checking prices reached recently by similar houses sold in the area using the internet etc, or very often just by a drive by. Have a look at www.houseprices.co.uk to see what info is available.

Can you get a partial survey?

Ie, just the basic structute and roof?

I think that's all I'll need.

Pat...