A basic survey is carried out for your benefit to reveal any serious problems with the property.

Contrary to common myth – that you’re only really covered by a full structural survey – if problems emerge which the basic survey didn’t warn you about then you have a case to claim for damages to cover the necessary repair work.

The basic survey may be offered as a package with the valuation and called various things by the different mortgage lenders eg the “Flatbuyers survey” or the “Housebuyers report” and so on.

Even if it’s not offered as a package you could try and get the valuer to do a basic survey at the same time as this may be cheaper

Most house buyers opt for a basic survey because it’s cheaper than the full structural survey.

It may cost anything from £250 to £400 compared to £800 plus for the latter.

As a buyer you can use any faults revealed to renegotiate the price – which can more than make up for the extra cost of the full structural survey.

A basic survey should suffice for a normal modern building.

For anything older or more unusual you should seriously consider a Full Structural Survey

 

 

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