Choosing your Survey - Cheap Mortgage Deals

When buying a property you will need to conduct a survey it is impossible to avoid altogether because your mortgage lender will insist you have a basic one done. The main aim of this service is to help you make an informed judgement on whether or not to proceed with the purchase by alerting you to any serious defects and to assess whether or not the property is a reasonable purchase at the agreed price.

There are 3 types of surveys to choose from:

Mortgage Valuation

The mortgage valuation survey is an essential requirement of the home-buying process. It is prepared solely for the lender to assess the value of the property for mortgage purposes and to enable them to decide on how much they will lend you and under what terms and conditions.

Homebuyers Report and Valuation

The Homebuyers report and valuation is more comprehensive. It will report to you on the state of repair and general condition of the property. The report will also produce an opinion, based on an open market valuation, which will help you to decide whether or not the price you have agreed to pay is realistic. A homebuyer's report is likely to cost from £250 upwards, according to the value of the property. To save money, you can often combine it with the valuation required by your lender.

Full Building Survey

A Full Building Survey is carried out by a private surveyor and goes one step further. You are more likely to need a full building survey if the property you are buying is of unusual construction, very old, dilapidated, has been altered, or converted or renovation is planned. It is based on a detailed technical examination of the property and provides an extensive report to you on its state of repair and condition. The cost of a full structural survey will depend on the purchase price, the age, type and size of the property. For this you'd expect to pay around £650 for a £150,000 property, with the price depending on the size and type of property. And here, a valuation is only provided as an extra, by agreement.