The Perils and Pitfalls of Property

A short while ago Spartacus and I found a bargain property for sale locally, after much discussion we decided that as part of our pension fund it would be a great investment and so we put in an offer. This was quickly accepted but at no point during our dealings with the estate agent did they mention any serious structural problems. One week and £380 later we were informed that we wouldn't be given a mortgage because of a host of issues, no fitted bathroom and no fitted kitchen along with some structural issues. Out of pocket but thankfully armed with the knowledge that we had not bought a money pit, we were cross to find out that we had been the fourth set of buyers to employ a surveyor and infact the estate agent knew the results of the previous 3 survey which had all said the same.

 

This whole situation left us feeling a little angry but on discussion with other home buyers we feel like we have had a lucky escape, at least our surveyor found the faults. Some people have been affected terribly by surveyors negligence, not discovering until properties have been bought that there are serious problems that need fixing, dry rot and subsidence can be costly and worse still dangerous if left unresolved. We ourselves have had a 'drive by survey' during a recent remortgage.A practice which it seems is more common than you would think, this practice means valuations are being placed on property's based on age and surrounding area, unfortunately this method can't possibly highlight any areas for concern for example older electrics or evidence of copper piping or inadequate cavity wall ties.

In our experience and in my humble and non professional opinion, if you find yourself looking at property to buy always use an independent chartered surveyor, a list of which can be found on RICS









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