Robert Liebman
Journalism * Copywriting * Media Training
Survey the Scene for a Good Surveyor
The Observer, 9 April 2000
Viewers of the recent BBC programme Raising the Roof were treated to the spectacle of a surveyor falling off a chair in a vain but humorous and, for me, illuminating attempt to inspect a loft. Now I know how they do it – how some surveyors fail to spot the glaringly obvious.
Safely ensconced now in a structurally sound, properly surveyed house, Kate had a narrow escape. A first-time buyer, she had previously made an offer on a house which, for mortgage purposes, passed inspection when her building society’s surveyor discovered no serious faults. But on a second visit to the property to measure up for furniture, Kate noticed a sag in the bedroom ceiling. Worried, she asked her father to take a look.
A quick loft inspection was all he needed. “Light was streaming in through several large holes in the roof, water had clearly been coming in for some time, and the party wall was damaged. If the surveyor had really been in the loft, he had to have seen it.” For his part, Kate’s father gained full access to the loft by borrowing a stepladder from a neighbour. The surveyor in Raising the Roof could not have properly inspected the loft even if the chair hadn’t collapsed.
Despite a spate of other tv programmes highlighting lazy, incompetent or dishonest surveyors, most attention today focuses on seller’s packs, currently being trialled in Bristol. Sellers’ packs contain a condition report which is commissioned by the seller, not the buyer, and is less than a fully structural survey. They are part of a larger scheme, which comes into effect in 2003, to speed up the property-buying process. The main emphasis is on undercutting gazumping, the practice by which a seller accepts an offer from a buyer only to renege when a better offer comes along.
Serious though gazumping is, the condition of our properties should not be a secondary issue. Our homes really do represent the most important purchase most of us will ever make. In addition, many surveyors are honest and competent, and buyers who downplay the value of a proficient survey are doing themselves a potentially costly disservice.
Graham Waterton, an estate agent with Strutt & Parker in Salisbury, handled a handsome barn conversion which attracted numerous buyers. “To the layman the property looked fine, but several surveyors working independently for different buyers identified major problems with the central heating, the roof, the windows, the wiring, and just about everything else the seller had touched. He had run out of money during the conversion, let the builder go, and finished the job himself. He had to cut his price by £100,000 even though the original work would have cost only £50,000.”
With a bit of mental elbow grease, we can distinguish scrupulous from shoddy surveyors. Seek out personal recommendations and try to verify the surveyor’s professional qualifications, suggests surveyor Tony Saffrey, who is affiliated with Lane Fox in Haslemere. “Local estate agents and solicitors deal with surveyors day in, day out. Ring them and ask for their recommendation.”
Some uncertified surveyors pretend to be properly qualified, but “surveyors who are registered with RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) will be qualified and they will also confirm instructions in writing,” notes Saffrey. “RICS surveyors confirm in writing within two days. You will get costs, qualifications, and the nature of the instruction. If the confirmation doesn’t arrive, you should question the surveyor’s qualification.”
RICS will provide the names of three surveyors in the area you specify. If you find a surveyor on your own, RICS will confirm membership.
Conscientious surveyors use updated equipment and have a client-friendly attitude. If you have time and inclination, ask the surveyor if you can accompany him during the survey. Some are agreeable, and Saffrey meets such requests half-way: “Normally I say no. I tend to work methodically and if interrupted I can easily miss something. But I don’t mind meeting the buyer on the site after the survey and pointing things out to them in the property.”
An on-site meeting enables buyers to see for themselves if the wood is wormy or the windows are wonky, but a second trip into the loft is unlikely. How, then, can the client know the state that the loft is in, and whether the surveyor has actually troubled himself to inspect it? “I show the client the photographs I’ve taken,” says Saffrey, who uses a digital camera. Unlike Polaroids, the images can instantly be transferred to a computer for further analysis, enlargement and distribution.
Even when hedged in by qualifications, the typical survey is itself a window into the many nooks and crannies of a property. Nevertheless, many property buyers rely on their lender’s valuation, either mistakenly believing it to be a proper survey or, shortsightedly, to save money.
Many buyers are worried because, in the current sellers’ market, “some sellers don’t want to deal with buyers who are commissioning surveys,” says Saffrey. “Despite warnings to the public, we are seeing a lot of abbreviated report forms relying on lender surveys. Recently, several buyers rushed to purchase and later had to pay for things like poor wiring and wet rot, the kinds of things that certainly would not show up on a lender’s survey. These repairs might cost £500 or £1,000, but why run the risk of finding something bigger and more expensive. Buyers should be fully informed.”
Nor are flat-buyers exempt from these considerations: “Flats run the same risks as houses. More important with a flat are the lease conditions,” Saffrey says. “The surveyor should see the lease. It contains clues regarding maintenance arrangements, so the surveyor will look at things slightly differently. For example, certain areas of the building will be covered by the service charge.”
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Mortgage valuations. Homebuyer’s Reports. Building Survey. Home Condition Reports. The first and last entries are not proper surveys. A mortgage valuation is paid for by the buyer but for the benefit of the lender, who wants to ensure that their loan is secure. To that end, lenders accept a level of inspection which is generally cursory in the extreme, and buyers who feel reassured by it can be doing themselves more harm than good. Kate nearly bought a house requiring major structural work to the roof and walls.
A condition report is a new breed the nature of which will only be evident in a few years, when the government irons out the details of the mandatory sellers’ packs. According to Michael Chambers of RICS, “as of now the condition report is roughly the level of today’s homebuyer’s report, but without the evaluation.” But homebuyer’s reports are inadequate for many properties, such as older country houses or extensively renovated homes. And as many homebuyer’s reports and even building surveys themselves often recommend further specialist surveys, condition reports with similar conditions will be frustratingly incomplete.
Chambers notes that “today only one in five buyers commissions a survey, and when sellers’ packs become compulsory, it will rise from 20 to 100 percent.” Even with the current low uptake, surveyors in some areas are hard pressed to meet demand. When surveys become compulsory, surveyors will be severely stretched. Principled surveyors will be under enormous pressure, and goodness knows how the shabby or unscrupulous ones will perform. At least under the current system, with buyers directly instructing surveyors, buyers can select a surveyor who effectively puts them in the picture.
RICS Information Centre, 020 7222 7000; Tony Saffrey, 01428 661077; Strutt & Parker, 01722 328741.
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