Even though I bought the cheapest house I could find I had a proper survey and there were some issues . I couldn’t get the owner to reduce but I’m glad I knew as some of the bricks on the roof were disintegrating and I wouldn’t have known without the survey .
Definitely get the best one
hmmmm a difficult decision. The thing with a full survey is that they pick up on absolutely everything so they don’t have to pay out if things do go wrong.
If you get a short survey then get electricians, damp companies, etc to come in to advise on the other things this works out a lot cheaper.
I used to be a mortgage specialist some years ago and read through a lot of Survey Reports.
I found that most of the Full Survey Reports would recommend all sorts of specialist reports that may not really be needed - it was all pretty much standard wording to cover their backs.
The names have changed since I worked with property surveys, so I had look up what was included in each type of survey now.
Here is a list of all the different types of RICS surveys currently available
A lot depends on the type of property you’re buying and the age and condition of it.
If I was buying a very old property, one with unusual building materials or one which had been extensively altered on DIY basis, I would go for the fullest survey to make sure there was no hidden major problems.
For most standard type properties, my personal choice would be for the middle option, plus a valuation
RICS Home Survey – Level 2 (survey and valuation)