Property Survey Mortgage Advice in Sheffield
Once you’ve had your offer accepted on a property, you are going to move onto the next stage of the mortgage process… getting the property surveyed.
A property survey is carried out to determine whether the true value of a home correlates to the amount that a buyer has offered for it. The survey will also show the overall condition of a property, highlighting defects and damages (if there is any).
Types of Property Survey
There are lots of different types of property surveys, however, three stand out as the most popular amongst the crowd:
- Mortgage Valuation
- Homebuyer’s Report
- Full Structural Survey
A property survey may be carried out free of charge depending on the lender that you use. If you are offered a free survey, you may be limited to what you can see on the report, or sometimes the lender may not give you a copy.
Each survey differs, some will provide great detail and tell you everything that you need to know about your property, whereas others will not. Usually, the more that you pay for a survey, the more in-depth the report will be.
If your survey shows something about the property that you weren’t told about, by law you are allowed to approach the seller and work out a price reduction is necessary.
Mortgage Valuation
A Mortgage Valuation is the simplest property survey and usually the cheapest. They are carried out to find out the true value of a property.
Before committing to lending to you, your lender will need to find out whether the property’s value matches how much you are set to borrow from them. If you put in an offer above the property’s value and it gets accepted by your seller, it’s good for them but not for your lender, therefore it’s unlikely that your lender will accept your application. This is because they will have to lend more than the property is actually worth; this is called a down valuation. If you can make up the difference between what you said you’d pay and the mortgage amount, you’ll be able to go ahead with your lender, although, if you can’t then the lender will pull out of the deal.
Unfortunately, a Mortgage Valuation survey will not point out minor damages or repairs, it will just show clear structural defects that will require attention as soon as possible. If you want a report that goes further in-depth, you will have to pay more to upgrade to a different survey.
Homebuyers Report
A Homebuyers Report focuses on the safety of the property and how safe it is to live inside of it. The report will include problems such as mould, dampness or something that does not pass the current building laws.
This survey will be carried out by an expert. They will thoroughly examine the property from top to bottom so that they know exactly how safe it is to live in.
Full Structural Survey
As a Mortgage Broker in Sheffield, we usually recommend a Full Structural Survey, especially to those who are purchasing an older building. You sometimes need to be aware of everything.
This survey is the most expensive of the three and usually them all. This is because your surveyor will look at the whole property, often spending a whole day to determine its worth and to find out what’s wrong with it.
If the purchase goes through and you now know everything about the property, you may have saved yourself a lot of money in the long run as if you didn’t know about the damages, you couldn’t act on them meaning that they could worsen overtime.
Do I need to get a survey on a new build?
New builds usually requires a different type of survey called a snagging survey. This will highlight both minor and major issues. It could be from a missing door hinge to cracks in the ceiling.
If the new build has already been built, it would be wise to have a property survey carried out on it before you move into it. Just because the property is a new build doesn’t mean that there is nothing wrong with it. As a Mortgage Broker in Sheffield, we would always advise that you have some sort of survey carried out on a property.
Mortgage Advice in Sheffield
Whether you are a first time buyer in Sheffield or moving home in Sheffield, if you are struggling to choose the right property survey or just need general mortgage advice, feel free to get in touch with our team. Sometimes, it can be difficult to get the ball rolling when it comes to moving home, so make sure to get in touch if you need any help!
You can obtain the services of a surveyor to carry out a Homebuyers report or building survey through the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Date Last Edited: September 15, 2023
