RICS Homebuyer Survey and Valuation
Are you buying or selling a home?
- How do you know what is a reasonable price to
pay for the property?
- How can you find out if there are there any serious risks or defects to that property that require urgent attention?
A mortgage valuation is not a survey!
The RICS HomeBuyer Report has been designed with you in mind and is available for a few hundred pounds, can you afford not to have a survey?
The RICS HomeBuyer Report is a Level Two Inspection, has a crisp, modern appearance and is designed to be easy on the eye as well as simple to read and understand.
The form is written in plain English and broken down
into sections which report on:
- What the surveyor looks at and how the
- inspection is carried out
- Summary of condition ratings and the surveyor's overall opinion of the property
- Features of the property
- Elements outside of the property
- Elements inside of the property
- Services
- Garage, permanent outbuildings and grounds
- Issues for your legal advisers
- Risks to the building (including damp, timber and structural movement), grounds, people and other
- Market value
- What to do next
- Maintenance notes
- House diagram
The Phillips & Co RICS Homebuyer Report will include full colour digital photography where appropriate and can be emailed directly to both you and your solicitor to speed up the house buying process.
Neil is happy to provide verbal feedback on the day of
inspection and offer future verbal advice on matters
concerning the survey at no extra cost.
For buyers
Benefits of the HBR to buyers
- Possibly enable renegotiation of agreed purchase if unknown issues are flagged before legal commitment to purchase
- Allows reflective thought and may prevent an expensive mistake being made
- If purchase proceeds the buyer has an understanding of the property to assist in its future occupation and enjoyment
- Legal status of the buyer remains caveat emptor (let the buyer beware)
A mortgage valuation is for the
lender, it
is not a survey
The Homebuyer report aims to help buyers
- Make a reasoned and informed decision on whether to go ahead with buying the property
- Make an informed decision on what is a reasonable price to pay for the property
- Take account of any repairs or replacements the property needs
- Consider what further advice should be taken on board before exchanging contracts
Please, please remember these two things:
1) A mortgage valuation is just that, amvaluation to ensure the amount of a mortgage on a property is covered by thenvalue of the property, it is for the lenders purpose and is NOT a survey.
2) It is unlikely that an Estate Agent will recommend a purchaser has a survey carried out, it is not in their or their client’s interest to do so.
They are NOT working for you, but we will be!
NB: The Consumers Association "Which"
magazine and the Council of Mortgage Lenders both advise that it is prudent to arrange your own survey because the mortgage valuation report is prepared for the lender and only answers
questions regarding the appropriate security of the loan.
For further information on the RICS Homebuyer Survey and Valuation please click on the following link.
RICS LevelTwo with Valuation Description[...]
Adobe Acrobat document [101.8 KB]
To find out which level of survey best suits your purchase please click the following link
Types of Survey.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [82.9 KB]
To see an example of a survey report please click below.
RICS Level Two with Valuation Sample.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [1.4 MB]