SURVEYING
Masters of all they survey
asks the two leading
surveyors’ organisations, RICS and RPSA, to put the case for what is often seen as an unwanted complication to selling houses.
P
roperty professionals are well aware of the case for commissioning a survey when purchasing a property. However, numerous research reports tell us that consumers seemingly aren’t doing so – with the majority of today’s home
buyers relying on the lender’s valuation to tell them about any problems or defects that could end up causing them problems at a later date, potentially costing them £100s, if not £1000s. So why do so few buyers choose to commission a property survey? Research by MORI for a Government working group, and by
Which? found that while 80 per cent of home buyers say they do (or would) procure a survey when buying a home, only 18 per cent actually do so. However, the main reason for the discrepancy in these numbers is not because when it comes to parting with their cash the majority decide that they’d rather not pay out, but because in most cases, buyers incorrectly believe that their lender’s valuation is a survey – which of course it is not. Far from being a conscious decision not to commission
their own, more in-depth survey, it seems consumers are blindly pressing ahead with their purchase, in the majority of cases under the misguided assumption that the lender has got the survey sorted and there’s no need for anything further to be done on the matter. This needs to change – but how?
DAVID DALBY, RICS RESIDENTIAL DIRECTOR
It’s true, less than 20 per cent of prospective homebuyers commission an independent report on the condition of the property they are hoping to buy. It is also a fact that a significant
percentage of purchasers who do proceed without any form of condition report encounter unforeseen and often costly repairs after moving in. Ironically the average homebuyer has
more information about the contents of a packet of crisps from the information on the back of the packet, than he or she does about the contents and condition of the property they are taking on. In an earlier edition of PROPERTYdrum,
a report stated: Almost half of homeowners living in Victorian properties converted into flats will consider a new build next time they buy, according to a report commissioned by Cathedral Group and United House and prepared by 20/20 Research. Its findings showed that owners of older properties are forced to fork out thousands to cover necessary repairs and replacements within a few years of moving in. On average each paid out £8,000 to maintain their home during their first five years of owning the property. The survey revealed the most common bills for those living in Victorian conversions were for bathroom and kitchen replacements. More than 22 per cent needed to replace one or the other, or both, within five years. Other expenditure included repairing or replacing single glazed sash windows (21 per cent), struggling with boiler faults (19 per cent) and making necessary roof repairs (8 per cent).
20 JULY 2012 PROPERTYdrum
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