Protect yourself and your investment by hiring an experienced surveyor
An experienced property surveyor should be able to identify any structural problems, potentially saving you from nasty surprises and long-term costs.
Buying a house can be a stressful experience – from finding the right property, to securing a mortgage and hiring a solicitor. With so much to think about, it can be tempting to skip the property survey and just settle for the mortgage valuation report. However, this report just confirms the valuation of the property and won’t pick up on any structural problems that are present. A homebuyer’s report or building survey is essential to give you peace of mind and avoid any costly issues rearing their head further down the line.
What is a property surveyor?
A property surveyor is someone who can provide an independent assessment of the value and condition of a property, carrying out a detailed inspection in order to identify any structural faults or other problems that you need to be aware of.
However, not all surveyors are created, so in order to protect your investment, it is important to hire a property surveyor that is appropriately qualified and has a significant level of professional experience.
Benefit from a bank of knowledge
Property surveying is a specialist and complex field that requires practitioners to undergo rigorous qualifications and develop a broad range of technical and creative skills. As surveyors move through their careers and work on a variety of different jobs, they inevitably build up a broad knowledge base that they can draw on for future projects. This means that by hiring an experienced surveyor, you can trust them to have the knowledge they need to inspect your property properly.
Avoid unexpected costs
Purchasing a house is one of the biggest investments you will ever make, so you want to make sure your investment is protected as much as possible. If you go ahead and purchase a property without having a proper survey, you could potentially find yourself facing significant costs further down the line if any major structural issues happen to come to light.
But it’s not just about the money. Finding out that your home has major structural problems can be a stressful, frustrating and emotionally draining experience. And, in some serious cases, the problems could compromise you and your family’s health, or even pose a risk to life.
With so much at stake, it’s clear to see why it’s so important to hire an experienced surveyor.
Finding a surveyor
There are a number of routes you can go down to find a qualified and experienced property surveyor. Your mortgage lender or estate agent will often be able to recommend a surveyor, but you should always carry out your own research before going ahead and hiring their services.
In order to ensure that your surveyor meets a particular quality level, always hire a surveyor that is registered with a trade association such as the Residential Property Surveyors Association (RPSA), or the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). If you live in the South East, you can find registered surveyors Essex and surrounding areas via the RPSA or RICS websites, or by looking at third party comparison websites. Once you have found a potential surveyor, it’s also worth checking out any reviews and ratings to make sure they have a good reputation.
Hiring an experienced surveyor may cost a little more in the short term, but it’s a worthwhile investment, potentially saving you a lot of money in the longer term and providing you with valuable peace of mind.
