According to recent research by Churchill Home Insurance;

• 7m UK homeowners have taken a serious financial risk by choosing not to have a survey completed on their current property
• 3.5m people did not have any type of independent checks completed
• A staggering 3.6m assumed a mortgage valuation was sufficient
• 13 million homeowners have needed unexpected building work completed on their property since moving in
• 56 per cent of those who had major building work said knowing this in advance would have influenced their decision to buy the property
• Surveyors say the top three problems with properties which can be detected by a building survey are damp, roof issues and subsidence

What are the options available?

I would imagine the vast majority of people have heard of the RICS and the products that they offer such as the RICS Building Survey and the Homebuyer Report but did you know that there is an alternative out there?

The Home Condition Survey from SAVA is directly comparable to the RICS Homebuyers Report, especially as the format of this is changing to remove the valuation element.

All HCS surveyors hold either the Diploma in Home Inspection, DipHi, or the Diploma in Residential Surveying (and Valuation), DipRSurv, and undergo extensive training before they are allowed to carry out the HCS.

The HCS is written in jargon free English with an easy to understand 1, 2, 3 condition rating as you can see below. Another thing I really like about the HCS is the number of photographs that the report contains as this makes it much easier to understand what issues the surveyor has identified and why.

Don't be caught out when buying your next home.

get an independent survey!

You can read the full Churchill Insurance report here

Bluewire Hub are independent property assessors offering a variety of services to residential and commercial property owners, landlords, tenants and estate agents across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire.

You can learn more about what we do here