What your surveyor provides and what it means for your solicitor

It's very easy to look at the cost of a survey and think that skipping one is a good way of saving money on what is already an expensive process. Especially since taking out a survey is not a legal requirement for successful exchange of contracts.

Without fully understanding what the survey provides, it's also a simple step from there to assuming that the valuation required by your mortgage lender is all you need — because an expert has completed it. It isn't, though. The mortgage valuation survey is only an assessment of the property's value, carried out to satisfy the lender that you are a financial risk worth taking. It tells you very little about the condition of the home you're buying.

A homebuyer's survey is a detailed analysis of the property's structural integrity and condition, with guidance on what remedies are required and a cost estimate of the work to be done. The report gives you the peace of mind that the property is in a condition you're happy to proceed with — or it gives you the precise information you need to renegotiate the price, or to simply walk away from the transaction.

That covers the condition of the property. But the survey provides considerably more than that, especially when it comes to legal matters.

When you appoint a chartered surveyor through Surveyor Local, you are drawing on not only their qualified expertise in identifying structural and condition issues, but also their broad knowledge of potential problems that carry legal implications.

These legal questions will be flagged in the completed report as items for the attention of your solicitor — things that are often overlooked by the prospective buyer. This gives your conveyancing solicitor an additional checklist of tasks to work through before you agree to exchange contracts.

Here are the specific areas a chartered surveyor will look at when identifying points for your solicitor to investigate:

• Potentially unapproved alterations — extensions, loft or cellar conversions, and other significant renovations that might fall foul of planning restrictions or building regulations, or where there is no evidence of the required certification or permissions.
• Flying freeholds — rooms or areas of the property that overhang or sit beneath another property, such as a shared access, where the provisions stated in the deeds need to be checked and confirmed.
• Conservation areas and listed buildings — work carried out on the building that may not comply with the stipulations for its conservation area or listed status.
• Guarantees and warranties — verification that documentation exists and remains current for any repairs, window or door replacements, damp treatments, electrical or gas work, building work and so on.
• Boundary discrepancies — fences and walls that do not match what is registered for the property at HM Land Registry.
• Rights of way and easements — confirmation of documentation for unrecorded or undisclosed paths, easements or other access rights that might affect the use of the land.
• Flood risk — evidence of prior flooding, proximity to a flood plain, or high flood-risk location may require a more detailed expert flood risk assessment (charged as a disbursement).
• Mining activity — properties in areas with a history of coal or tin mining (particularly in Cornwall) may require a further expert assessment (also a disbursement).
• Invasive plants — the most common are buddleia, Japanese knotweed and bamboo, all of which grow quickly and can disrupt the stability of foundations and brickwork. A further expert report may be needed to confirm their presence and quote for removal and management (another disbursement).
• Buying a flat — there may be evidence that communal areas are not being managed effectively, or that shared liabilities exist around the condition, structure or grounds of the building as a whole.

Once your chartered surveyor has submitted the report, your conveyancing solicitor will work through the section flagged for their attention, raising requests for any missing documents and drafting additional enquiries specific to the issues identified. Where a highlighted problem would carry a significant cost to rectify, your solicitor will work on renegotiating the price with the seller's solicitor.

Or, in some cases, the findings may give you the misgivings — and the necessary grounds — to walk away from the purchase before you are committed at exchange of contracts.

Getting a survey, then, not only gives you a clear picture of the property's condition but also arms your solicitor with the information they need to better protect your purchase.

When you are buying a property, an independent assessment from a qualified chartered surveyor gives you the confidence to make the right call — whether that's proceeding, renegotiating or walking away.

Surveyor Local connects you with professional surveyors through our nationwide panel, all of whom are members of the RICS. They will work thoroughly to identify all kinds of problems, including the impact of prior flooding on the structure of the property.

Call for a no-obligation survey quote, or use Surveyor Local's quick online quote generator to get an instant figure.