In our bi-weekly series, readers can email in with any questions about property to be answered by our expert, Jonathan Rolande. Jonathan is a professional property-buyer and housing commentator who has bought and sold over 1,000 properties. If you have a question for him, email us at money@theipaper.com.
Question: I bought my first house last year without doing a survey. We were in a rush to buy before the stamp duty holiday deadline – as first-time buyers. I know this is not ideal and to be frank it makes me quite stressed thinking about it. Is it worth us getting a survey now retrospectively, or if not, is there anything we should now do?
Answer: In today’s subdued property market, it is easy to forget the frenzy at the end of the stamp duty holiday. Plenty of buyers completed without a survey, not because they were reckless, but because the system was buckling under pressure. Offers were flying in, solicitors were overwhelmed and surveyors were booked up months ahead.
It was an understandable, if not ideal, decision. My advice is simple – don’t panic.
You don’t mention whether you had a mortgage valuation. If you did, even this most basic of “surveys” would highlight anything suspicious. If you bought without any inspection whatsoever, the question now is whether a survey is worth it.
The answer – in some cases, yes.
That’s because a survey is primarily a pre-purchase negotiating tool. It helps you identify defects before exchange so you can renegotiate, request repairs, or simply walk away.
Now you own the house, the seller isn’t coming back to refund you because an issue has arisen or because something that was always there is now in writing, but that doesn’t mean a survey is pointless.
It’s now a health check rather than a deciding factor for a purchase.
If your home is older, unusual, listed, timber-framed, heavily extended, or has not been updated in decades, a Level 2 or Level 3 survey can still be useful. It can help you understand what you have bought, prioritise maintenance and plan spending over the next few years.
If you are seeing cracks that are worsening, damp patches or persistent mould, doors and windows starting to stick, sloping or bouncy floors, roof leaks or staining after rain, heavy condensation problems, unexplained smells, or wiring that looks old or suspect, you shouldn’t ignore it.
If there are warning signs, get the right professional in. That might be a surveyor, but it could just as easily be a structural engineer if you are worried about movement, an electrician or a roofer if the problem is clearly coming from above. The point is to match the inspection to the symptom.
The problem with retrospective surveys is this.
If the house has been broadly fine for a year, and you are mainly driven by hindsight, a full survey can be an unnecessary expense and worry.
Survey reports are cautious by design. Even decent houses produce lines such as “further investigation recommended” or “potential risk of movement”. Read cold, those phrases sound ominous. In reality, they often mean: “I cannot see the full detail, so I am covering myself”.
I have seen buyers panic over historic settlement in Victorian terraces that have stood perfectly well for 150 years.
By all means, instruct a survey; an average cost is around £700. Or, if you want to reduce risk and sleep better at night, consider one of the following:
- An EICR. If you have not had an electrical installation condition report, book one, particularly for older properties. Electrical faults are one of the few hidden issues that can be genuinely dangerous.
- Service the boiler annually. Unexciting, but essential.
- Check the loft
- Insure well. A top buildings-and-contents package is essential. Home emergencies cover is worth considering.
Look for leaks, damp insulation, daylight through tiles, and signs of pests. Insulation on the underside of tiles is a red flag.
One thing I would not recommend is commissioning every specialist just in case, or starting to open up walls and floors without a clear reason. That route gets expensive quickly and often creates problems that weren’t there in the first place.
Instead, match the inspection to the concern.
Suspect damp? Independent damp surveyor. Worried about movement? Structural engineer. Concerned about the roof? Roofer inspection. Targeted inspections are usually more useful than a generic survey after completion.
When all is said and done, if the house has behaved well, focus on sensible maintenance and targeted checks instead. Home ownership always carries uncertainty. The goal is not to eliminate risk completely, because that is impossible.
Most importantly, houses are resilient. Britain is full of homes built long before modern materials and standards and they’re still standing. Yours probably will be too.