|
|
 Home |
Residential |
Our
Reports |
Advice
on Disputes |
Useful
Links |
 |
|
The unhealthy alliancebetween local surveyors and estate agents
If you need help and advise with regard to independent valuations, property surveys, building surveys, structural reports, engineers reports, defects surveys and structural surveys matters please free phone 0800 298 5424 for a friendly chat.
The unhealthy alliance between local surveyors and estate agentsWe recently came across a situation where the estate agent was very unhappy about us carrying out a property survey, pointing out that they had several local surveyors that could do the job and that we were from further afield and therefore not able to do the work. We just consider this absolute rubbish and a good chartered building surveyor should be able to work nationally. In fact when we have worked for larger national companies they tend to only have a few chartered building surveyors that have lots of offices locally, and we had over twenty when we worked for one national company. It is a problem that we come across many times, where the estate agent is happy to recommend a local surveyor that they know and love and we pose the question why, and we think we know the answer. In our experience, estate agents don't like having structural surveys, or building surveyors as they are now known, carried out. By a survey we mean a proper survey, not a valuation. They will do everything in their power to persuade the purchaser that a valuation report is enough.
Familiarity breeds contemptIn our experience estate agents don't like having surveys carried out. By a survey we mean a building survey, and they will do everything in their power to persuade the purchaser that the valuation report is enough, even though the valuation report clearly states that it isn't. Please see our example report in the Compare Reports section of the website www.1stAssociated.co.uk/compare_surveys.asp
The client knows best and still wants a survey!
Unhealthy AllianceWhat is more criminal (and we use this term having given it due thought) is where the estate agents are recommending chartered surveyors that effectively owned by their own company, or have very close links or alliances. It is very easy to be taken in by the estate agents and persuaded that they are working for you, when, as you will discover when they receive the fee from the seller, or vendor, they are only working for themselves and will not be interested or liable for any problems that you have with the property, regardless of what they said about the property, i.e. they can state that the central heating was working or state that there were no structural problems, and the estate agents will not be liable when the property is sold.
Caveat emptor buyer bewareCaveat emptor is Latin for buyer beware and relates to the legal position when buying a property. However, we would always comment they should equally be aware of vested interests and the estate agents selling property and therefore not wanting any surveys to be carried out or only to be carried out by surveyors they know and love and the surveyors in turn know that they will get more work if their surveys are vented appropriately!
Surveying by numbers
We rarely recommend the home buyers report or home buyer survey and valuation report, as they are so limited. After all, buying a property is probably the largest investment you will make. We know you have heard this all before but you really do have to think carefully when buying a property.
First for independent adviceIf you truly do want an independent expert opinion from a chartered surveyor with regard to structural surveys, building surveys, structural reports, engineers reports, defects report, including things such as cracks, dampness, condensation, foundation problems, etc, dilapidations, home buyers reports or any other property matters please contact 0800 298 5424 for a chartered surveyor to give you a call back. If you have a commercial property, be it leasehold or freehold, then you may wish to look at our Dilapidations Website at www.DilapsHelp.com and for Disputes go to our Disputes Help site www.DisputesHelp.com . We hope you found the article of use and if you have any experiences that you feel should be added to this article that would benefit others, or you feel that some of the information that we have put is wrong then please do not hesitate to contact us (we are only human). The contents of the web site are for general information only and is not intended to be relied upon for specific or general decisions. Appropriate independent professional advice should be paid for before making such a decision. All rights are reserved the contents of the web site is not to be reproduced or transmitted in any form in whole or part without the express written permission of www.1stAssociated.co.uk. You may be interested in our other articles about Estate Agents: Understanding the Estate Agent Estate Agents tricks of the trade Basic outline of what's involved when buying a home "There is no point being Honest" If you truly do want an independent expert opinion from chartered surveyors who are able to value, or bank valuations or personal valuations and can offer an opinion of the condition of the property with a building survey or a structural survey or a home buyers reports then please contact 0800 298 5424 for a chartered surveyor to give you a call back. If you have a commercial property, be it leasehold or freehold, then you may wish to look at our Dilaps Website at www.DilapsHelp.com and for Disputes go to our Disputes Help site www.DisputesHelp.com . We hope you found the article of use and if you have any experiences that you feel should be added to this article that would benefit others, or you feel that some of the information that we have put is wrong then please do not hesitate to contact us (we are only human). The contents of the web site are for general information only and is not intended to be relied upon for specific or general decisions. Appropriate independent professional advice should be paid for before making such a decision. All rights are reserved the contents of the web site is not to be reproduced or transmitted in any form in whole or part without the express written permission of 1stAssociated.co.uk.
|
|
||||||||
|
||||||||||
If the purchaser still wants a survey then the estate agent tends to steer them towards the RICS home buyers report, which is a fairly economical report, that is usually carried out by surveyors that the estate agent knows, i.e. surveyors that are predominantly qualified in carrying out valuation reports. This is why the home buyers report has so many caveats in it to limit the valuers/surveyors liability to enable them to carry out the reports very quickly. A fairly typical run of valuations and surveys for a company would be one home buyers report and four or five valuations in a day. This gives the estate agents what they want, which is a fee for selling the property and the purchaser has a survey. Unfortunately, we feel the estate agents are misleading the purchasers in the majority of cases, certainly persuading them away from having a proper building survey. 
