You’ve embarked upon the journey of buying a house and are now in the process of sorting out the less exciting practicalities of purchasing a property. After agreeing on a purchase price, appointing a solicitor, and arranging a mortgage in principle, you’re told the next step is to arrange for a surveyor to visit. But what does a surveyor do and why do you need one?
While the term surveyor encompasses a range of different professions, from land surveying to city infrastructure, for the purposes of your property purchase you will be using the services of a residential surveyor.
How does a surveyor carry out a mortgage valuation?
If you are purchasing your new home with a mortgage, the lender will arrange for a mortgage valuation to be carried out by a surveyor to check whether the property’s value is sufficient to cover the loan being applied for. It is the surveyor’s role to use their expert knowledge to help advise the lender on the property’s value and highlight if the property has any serious defects which could affect the value or cause any concern for the lender. They will do this by performing a visual inspection of the property, doing a walk-through of the home to ensure that there aren’t any clear issues that could impact the current or future value of the property.
A surveyor’s mortgage valuation may be different than the value that the estate agent or seller has the property listed for. This is because an estate agent does not provide a legal valuation and the listing price is instead a market appraisal (which is a speculative prediction of what price the property could potentially achieve). Comparatively, a surveyor’s valuation is a legally binding report, which conclusions are reached via an evidence-based approach, including comparing the sales of similar properties in the area in recent months. A surveyor’s work does not begin or end at the valuation appointment itself but also includes research of the local area and current market conditions.
A mortgage valuation is performed solely on behalf of the lender, and while the lender may provide a copy of the report to the applicant, it is not required for them to do so. Moreover, it is becoming more common for desktop valuations to be utilised for mortgage valuations. For a desktop valuation, the surveyor evaluating the property is not required to physically inspect the property and instead the valuation is performed through online research and property databases.
What about surveys?
Surveyors also provide a range of other services. This includes a range of different levels of home survey’s, independent valuations, and specialist reports.
The level of home survey chosen will dictate the level of detail included in the survey report however, all of the home survey products offered provide a greater breadth of information than a mortgage valuation alone.
When carrying out a home survey, the surveyor will need to see the full extent of the property, including any loft spaces, cellars and outbuildings. Ideally the surveyor will check the inside of all outbuildings, but if there is an extensive plot it may not be practical to see the full extent of the estate. If this is the case, the valuer will discuss this at the appointment
Although our surveyors take care to do a thorough inspection at the appointment, if you have any areas of concern about the property you are looking to purchase, you can raise this with the surveyor prior to the appointment. They will endeavour to pay particular attention to this at the inspection.
If you’re buying a new home and are interested in finding out more about our home surveys’ take a look here!