Author Topic: Surveryors report on house purchase  (Read 1619 times)

Surveryors report on house purchase
« on: 04 March, 2019, 10:22:00 am »
Further to the thread on boilers and earthing the surveyors report on the house electrics noted "no areas of concern" despite there being no earth.

Quote
"The installation is believed to be of some age.  I saw no areas of concern, however, I have not seen a current test certificate for the installation."

Is it worth going back and complaining as he could have got the sellers to pay for the work if it had been highlighted?

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: Surveryors report on house purchase
« Reply #1 on: 04 March, 2019, 02:08:31 pm »
What type of report did you have done?

Can try, nothing to loose.

Re: Surveryors report on house purchase
« Reply #2 on: 04 March, 2019, 02:19:14 pm »
What type of report did you have done?

Probably the kind that is so full of caveats and exclusions that it is not work the pixels it's created with.

Re: Surveryors report on house purchase
« Reply #3 on: 04 March, 2019, 02:28:38 pm »
The homebuyers report is primarily about whether the property is in a mortgageable condition. Regarding services. The wording of the brief is this.

Services to the propertyServices are generally hidden within the construction of the property. This means that only the visible parts of the available services can be inspected and the surveyor does not carry out specialist tests.The visual inspection cannot assess the efficiency or safety of the electrical, gas or other energy sources; plumbing, heating or drainage installations (or whether they meet current regulations); or the inside condition of any chimney, boiler or other flue.
Source RICS.
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Wombat

  • Is it supposed to hurt this much?
Re: Surveryors report on house purchase
« Reply #4 on: 07 March, 2019, 11:35:48 am »
Surely its normal for the vendors to provide electrical safety certificates, as part of the purchase process?  Our sale and purchase certainly did, a year ago.

That's definitely not usually included in any surveyors report, which typically aren't worth the paper its written on.  I didn't have one done, because a) I didn't need a mortgage, and b) I've been surveying buildings and analysing and curing defects in them for 40+years.
Wombat

Re: Surveryors report on house purchase
« Reply #5 on: 07 March, 2019, 11:49:38 am »
I don't think it's a legal requirement for a vendor to provide an electrical (or gas) safety cert.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: Surveryors report on house purchase
« Reply #6 on: 07 March, 2019, 02:14:28 pm »
It’s only required if it’s available. We are in the process of selling our house. We had a new boiler fitted 10 years ago and we have a safety certificate for that but the last electrical work done was 20 years ago when safety certificates were not required nor issued. Still, we are awaiting the buyer’s surveyor so we’ll see what they say.
I am often asked, what does YOAV stand for? It stands for Yoav On A Velo

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Surveryors report on house purchase
« Reply #7 on: 07 March, 2019, 02:28:42 pm »
It’s only required if it’s available. We are in the process of selling our house. We had a new boiler fitted 10 years ago and we have a safety certificate for that but the last electrical work done was 20 years ago when safety certificates were not required nor issued. Still, we are awaiting the buyer’s surveyor so we’ll see what they say.

That matches my experience (finally exchanged contracts on selling the now empty parental home this week).  What did pop up in the searches were requirements for a FENSA and Gas Safe certs for recent work carried out.  I couldn't put my hands on these and our solicitor suggested we pay an indemnity of a hundred and fifty notes to get us in the clear. That made me wince, so I went onto the Gas Safe and FENSA websites. Both have easy to use search facilities allowing me to order replacement certs in a couple of minutes, which arrived by email soon after. 
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)