property surveyors

[littlemissx]

what do they actually do?? one is coming to my aunts house tomorrow and i just wondered what they actually check.

[lizwizz]

It depends on the kind of survey the client has ordered - could be anything from a cursory look round to going into the loft, lifting carpets, floorboards etc. Need to know a little more really.

[Binky]

If it is just a valuation survey that a mortgage lender has commissioned to check whether the house is worth what they are lending on it, the surveyor will be in and out very quickly! He/she may will go into the garden and look up at the roof, but not into the loft. The result will be a two sided survey, which gives very little detail. Our recent survey said in the section "Items to Note" that an internal wall had been removed, but it didn't way which one and we couldn't tell if it was a dividing wall between the bathroom and the toilet or a wall dividing the mater bedroom into two!

A full structure survey will involve a roof inspection, various instruments being pushed into the walls to check for damp, looking at any floorboards and a visit to the loft.

[Poglet]

There are 3 different types of survey

1. A mortgage valuation, takes about 30 minutes

2. A homebuyers survey, takes about 1-2 hours dependent on age and size of property (usually for a fuller survey for a house over 50 years old)

3. A Building Survey - takes 3 plus hours, dependent again on age and size of house. This is recommended for a house over 100 years old and/or of untraditional construction e.g. thatch

[Kathyan]

We are having a survey done for a re-mortgage tomorrow and have been told that the surveyor will want to look in the loft (head and shoulder inspection is what they called it!)

[rugeleyboy]

i came on here to say ask poglet...... but she has already given you her advice!!