Hi Folks

I shortly hope to buy a leasehold flat in Kent. The building dates from the 1890s.

I know the conventional wisdom is 'always have a survey carried out by a Chartered Surveyor' - but I'm undecided and wonder if anyone has advice on this?

Seems to me that most buyers use a solicitor for the conveyancing and you can ask questions (through them) of the vendor - such as 'Is any major structural/maintenance work due to be carried out?', 'What is the cost likely to be?' (etc). If the vendor then gives false info, then in many cases there can be legal redress.

I don't know whether there is a clear enough reason to spend £300-£400 to arrange a survey, when (in my experience) the surveyor can raise as many questions as they answer, and much of the info obtained could be got through your solicitors

Constructive comments, as ever, welcome

I would definitely have a survey done! I was very budget conscious when I was in my early 20's and purchased my first house (which was about 40 years old) and didn't bother to have a survey done.

There was just a cursory survey made by the building society surveyor, which was basically a valuation for the mortgage advance. Apparently the vendor - an old lady who was moving to live near her sister in the North of England - wouldn't let him raise the fitted carpets to see the condition of the floor underneath.

I found out the reason why a few months after I moved in....there was a bay window and the floor seemed 'soft' when I walked on it. It was riddled with woodworm!

Don't skimp on a full structural survey as I did as you may pay for it later! If anything is found in the survey you have strong grounds to negotiate the cost of repairs with the vendor before you close/complete on the purchase.

PS: What would you do if as you say - the vendor "gives false info, then in many cases there can be legal redress" but the vendor has emigrated from the UK?

Always have a full survey done when buying a property, especially with a property as old as that.

I hear what you're saying, Englishmum, about a 'rogue seller who then emigrates' - no, I'm not sure either how you'd get 'redress'.

As to checking 'whats underneath' floor coverings, in my experience, surveyors usually advise that something may be 'wrong' - but the presence of furniture , wall coverings (etc) meant they couldn't check, to be absolutely certain. I've always understood that surveyors do not move furniture, take up floor coverings (etc)

Building society 'surveys' usually just check the property is there

I think you're right about surveyors not moving stuff to check things. Once I wanted a structural engineer to examine what sort of joint had been used to support a load-bearing wall in a property I wanted to buy in Cornwall, and whether it was satisfactory

The guy actually said to me "Well it'll cost £395 for the inspection - but if the joint is covered, and I can't see it, the only way is for the owner to scrape off wallpaper, plaster (etc) and expose the joint: I don't do it"

On the other hand, solicitors can ask questions of the management company/freeholder - but these people are not likely to provide information unless its asked for. So, might a surveyor 'input' prompt you to ask questions you might not otherwise ask?

Ditto - but I think a full structural report will cost the OP more than £400. There are 3 levels of report (at least there were when I bought this house back in 2007):

Level 1 is essentially just a valuation - the "yeah, the house is there" type report referred to in another post.

Level 2 looks more closely at potential problems that are relatively evident from a visual inspection (so, in the case of my house they commented on the fact that some rewiring and replumbing looked like thay hadn't been done by a professional). I think this is the one that costs about £400.

Level 3 ("full structural survey"?) involves testing for damp, pulling up carpets, getting into crawl spaces, etc.

Paying for a full survey is like buying insurance - it buys peace of mind (albeit at a high prices), and if there IS something drastically wrong can save you a LOT of money and heartache.

Most reasonable people wouldn't drive a £30k car without paying several hundred ££'s a year insurance, but they think nothing of paying £400k for a house, without paying for the "insurance" of a structural report.

For a house of this age, it seems a no-brainer. Just look at it as paying £401k for the flat instead of £400k and it seems like less of an expense.

The important thing seems to be to list what I can find out from solicitors, what else I would like to know, see what the 'deficit' is - and then approach a surveyor with these queries.

Past experience with surveyors (from 2007) tells me there are things they will put in their report - but when you speak to the surveyor face-to-face or on the phone, they very often give you their private opinion.

I don't think there is a realistic chance of 're-negotiating' the offer price if there are significant defects: it was slightly less than the £400K mentioned in previous post

Some links here:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mor...e-buying-guide

http://www.access-legal.co.uk/servic...stions-689.htm

http://www.reallymoving.com/professo...-property.aspx

We have just bought a leasehold flat, an ex Council flat, to rent out. We didn't have a survey because the Council pay the insurance on the whole building, and we are re-charged for it. If anything were to go wrong on the buildings side of things then the Council would be liable for sorting it out (there was a downpipe loose and not attached on the flat and we reported it and it was fixed within a week). It depends on what is included in your yearly payment to the leaseholder - do they carry the insurance on the building? or do you have to? Our flat is not nearly as old, and is in a block of about 9 flats, but I would take the advice of your solicitor, as they can read the 'small print' on the leaseholding. If the flat was part of an old house and not a purpose built, then I would also have had a survey.

I would always have a survey on a freehold property, and usually more than just a valuation report, unless the property is very new.

Hi - Thanks for the reply and welcome to the site (notice its your first post) What you say underlines the importance of a 'good solicitor' to check what exactly you are liable for.

Some landlord/management company run blocks of leasehold flats have pretty good maintenance funds while others don't and seem to pay to have work done on an 'as-and-when' basis.

Consequently your annual maintenance charge could be £350 one year - and then £1350 the next!! My solicitors say the building insurance is met by the freeholder but are waiting to see a copy of it

My inclination would probably be to have a survey done - solicitors in offices can only help you so far.

@ Englishmum - thanks for the links

Thank you for the welcome, I usually just read the forum, but thought our experience may be of use to you.

I think you need the peace of mind that a good survey will give you. On our last house (100 years old) we had the best survey done, I think it was about £1,200, but we knew what we were buying, it was freehold and our family home. Better to lose the survey money than end up with a money pit if anything is found to mean you wouldn't want to buy it!