Over seven million UK homeowners have not had a survey completed before buying their current property, putting them at serious financial risk, warns Churchill Home Insurance.
According to research from the insurer, this includes 3.5 million people who did not have any type of independent checks completed and 3.6 million who assumed a mortgage valuation was sufficient.
With soaring property prices and deposits, it appears that people are scaling back on the level of surveys completed before buying in order to save cash.
The number of people having at least a base level survey has increased over time, from 63% 20 years ago to 91% in the last 12 months. The number of homeowners, however, having the comprehensive building survey has reduced significantly, from 28% 20 years ago to just 6% in the last 12 months.
Martin Scott, head of Churchill Home Insurance, said: “It’s encouraging to see the number of people having a survey has increased over time. Only by having a qualified surveyor assess a property are prospective buyers fully informed of the true state of that property, so it is an essential part of the buying process. Those relying on a mortgage valuation alone should be wary as this is just a cursory look at a property from a mortgage lender to assess how much it is worth, not a survey looking at the state of the property.”
Not taking out a survey can be a huge risk when buying a property – some 13 million (42%) UK homeowners have needed unexpected works doing to their property within 12 months of moving in.
Scrimping on a survey can be a false economy and end up costing home buyers more in the long run, with those that had a condition report (62%) needing more work on their property than those who had a building survey (47%).
Scott said: “While home surveys are expensive, they can potentially save buyers’ thousands of pounds as they can identify uninsurable risks. It is imperative to find out what you are dealing with at as early a stage in the buying process as possible. Home surveys can uncover damage caused by rot or fungus or even more discrete damage by beetles, moths and woodworms.”
The top three problems with properties which can be detected by a building survey are damp, roof issues and subsidence. UK surveyors report that less than 10% of their clients instruct them to carry out a full building survey when they buy a property.
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