Buyer present at structural survey?

dynasoar

Hi all,

Is it normal/acceptable for the buyer to be present when the structural survey is being carried out?

On a separate note: is it normal/common for the surveyor to perform the survey without either the estate agent or the buyer being present?

Thanks in advance!

Paddytheman

The EA was present when ours was being carried out, had the inlaws visiting from France at the time and we were given access to show them the property at the same time. Didnt seem like a biggy tbh....

jimmycrackcorm

dynasoar wrote:

Is it normal/acceptable for the buyer to be present when the structural survey is being carried out?

I don't think it's normal but perfectly acceptable so that the buyers get first hand information of any issues and possible impact.

Frankly I can't see why it would be questioned.

annoyedgal

Please ask permission of the current owners first if you want to be present. We arrived home to a house full of people. Estate agent, surveyor, architect and enginner, buyers and a father. I was actually stopped at my front door by the buyer when I went in.
If I had of being asked I would have said yes but made sure as hell I wasn't there to make awkward small talk for 20 I'd minutes until the survey was over......rant over!

lintdrummer

annoyedgal wrote: »

Please ask permission of the current owners first if you want to be present. We arrived home to a house full of people. Estate agent, surveyor, architect and enginner, buyers and a father. I was actually stopped at my front door by the buyer when I went in.
If I had of being asked I would have said yes but made sure as hell I wasn't there to make awkward small talk for 20 I'd minutes until the survey was over......rant over!

Your user name is very appropriate! :pac:

In fairness though, surely it's the responsibility of the estate agent to inform the owners, the buyers don't generally have any contact with the present owners do they?

annoyedgal

Absolutely the responsibility of the agent. In this case he was equally taken aback as they must have arrived unannounced !

Bob24

dynasoar wrote: »

Hi all,

Is it normal/acceptable for the buyer to be present when the structural survey is being carried out?

On a separate note: is it normal/common for the surveyor to perform the survey without either the estate agent or the buyer being present?

Thanks in advance!

While not a problem there isn’t really any point in the buyer being present during the whole survey. What would be more usual I think is for the buyer to join the surveyor on site just after they complete the survey so that they can ask in person if there are any obvious issues and the surveyor can visually show the problems.

On the second point the surveyor will happily do the survey on their own, but the seller/agent might want to be present which is fair enough of they want to ensure no damage is caused to the property as part of the survey.

listermint

So wait....
You want this person to hand over let's say an average of 300 thousand euro to you but you don't want them in your house during a survey that they have to pay for to satisfy the bank.


Let me see....


Erm use a bit of poxy common sense. You'd like to be there if you were in the same position. Is this thread for real ?


You wouldn't pay for a car blind you'd bring a friend who knows about cars why would anyone expect a person to make the single most expensive purchase they'll ever make without the ability to question the survey.

ted1

annoyedgal wrote: »

Please ask permission of the current owners first if you want to be present. We arrived home to a house full of people. Estate agent, surveyor, architect and enginner, buyers and a father. I was actually stopped at my front door by the buyer when I went in.
If I had of being asked I would have said yes but made sure as hell I wasn't there to make awkward small talk for 20 I'd minutes until the survey was over......rant over!

Did you check me home early ? These people are going to be writing you a cheque for anything from 200,000 Euro up. Could you not have driving around the block.

Small talk for 20 minutes oh no!! It’s 20 minutes to you but a 30 year mortgage fir them. Believe me they would have preferred you fecked off.

annoyedgal

If you had bothered to actually read my post you would know I would have had no problem with them being there had I known in advance and I could have made myself scare so as NOT to be there.
It's called common courtesy to ask permission of the home owner beforehand. Might be worth reading before you respond in future.

Baybay

In my opinion there is not a lot of point in the buyer being present, regardless of how much they're spending on the purchase. Presumably they trust their appointed surveyor, have little knowledge of their own that'd be needed & will receive a written report anyway. Plus it can take several hours.

Bob24

Baybay wrote: »

In my opinion there is not a lot of point in the buyer being present, regardless of how much they're spending on the purchase. Presumably they trust their appointed surveyor, have little knowledge of their own that'd be needed & will receive a written report anyway. Plus it can take several hours.

Not during the survey, but on site just after completion of the survey it makes sense. You can get direct intitial feedback from the surveyor without having to wait for their report, and they can visually show you and explain the issues they might have identified.