We bought our house late last year and paid extra for  a more thorough survey than the basic one offered.
We have recently suffered a large leak from the toilet cistern due to the fact that the toilet has not been fitted with an overflow pipe?!! and consequently it has leaked through floorboards and into kitchen below affecting the ceiling 
Does anyone know whether the survey should have picked this up or not? Im thinking yes as its something so basic but dont want to kick up a fuss if not?

any advice much appreciated

Sorry cant help but Im getting worried now, we have just had a new bathroom fitted by the council and the loo doesnt have an overflow either, its a new type that excess water is supposed to go down the toilet ???? so ive been told, but does have two thingys where you can turn water off on water pipe to the loo?

You can get an internal thingy that fits in cistern apparently and so doesnt need an overflow- ours didnt have either

We asked for a more thorough survey (can't remember the name of it) and it cost double the standard type of survey.  About a year later we had water appear on the inside of our bedroom wall.  It was leaking through the plaster and a crack in the plaster developed.  We called in a builder and he discovered that concrete that beds in th edge of the roofing was disintergrating and the previous owners had covered in bitumin rather than repair it properly (one of a few cover up botch jobs they left us with :rolleyes:).  I was mad and called in the surveyor and he wouldn't accept responsibility and told me it wasn't covered by the survey because they don't go up onto roofs and inspect them.

I think I might have been fobbed off and should have followed it up but didn't.  I put it down to experience and made note to remember to make sure I know exactly what is covered in a survey and ensure this is put in writing. 

Reply to Lel....Phew thanks!

Lel, you should be able to claim on your house insurance for the damage!

It would be nice to think that a surveyors report covered something like this - but I have a feeling that it doesn't. What does the report say it covers ?? Does it say it covers plumbing ?

Daisy

Have a look at the small print to see what it says it dosnt cover. Unless a full structural survay there are lots of 'except for' in fact, even with a full one there are lots of 'except fors' :( makes you wonder why anyone bothers sometimes!

The last survey I had done was absolute bunkum :rolleyes:  It talked about gas central heating that the house did not have!  Wasn't entirely sure they had even gone to the right property.  I vowed I would not bother to have one ever again and then the Government moved the goalposts and brought in the sellers package, beginning next year :(

I don't have a lot of faith in them either. The last time we were supposed to have a survey done (extending the mortgage so had to have the house revalued) the surveyor didn't set foot over the door!!! OH phoned the bank to ask what the delay was as no-one had contacted us to make an appointment for the surveyor to come round and the bank told us that the survey had been done tho week before

The survey done on our house said that it was carpeted throughout so floors couldn't be checked. That proved that the surveyor hadn't come in because it was only carpeted downstairs ... :rolleyes:

Depends on the type of survey though - if it just the survey for the building society/bank - all they have to do is to check that the house is worth the value of the mortgage amount. A lot of houses can be valued from outside - particularly if the mortgage isn't for the full value of the house :)

Daisy

thanks guys- bit of a rip off really then arent they? wonder if this new home selling scheme thing will be ok that they are going to introduce?

No I think it will be ghastly :(  We will all be forking out for surveys that morgage lenders have not agreed that they will accept, particularly if they are more than 3 or 4 months old as will often be the case.  The only ones set to gain are the surveyors, trumped up estate agents by any other name :rolleyes:.  Kirsty is dead against them and that is good enough for me!

I worked for surveyors for years.  There is a basic valuation survey which is really done for the lender to say the house has a roof and four walls and there is a homebuyers survey which costs two or three times the price of a valuation. 

In my experience there is very little comeback on surveyors as there is a lot of small print on the surveys and they don't have to lift carpets or go onto roofs, test wiring or plumbing.  So if your new house has galloping woodworm in the floorboards the surveyor might not notice it as he's not obliged to lift carpets to check.  Always worth writing a letter of complaint as often the fees are refunded if the client is making a serious noise.

CG

I;m sorry but I'm not going to help much. I bought a house a few years ago and had a very expensive full structural survey done - which came with 'guarantees'. When I came to sell it 18 months later the buyers had the cheap survey done and found 'major damp' in the sitting room and kitchen.

We tried to get the money back from our bank (who we'd paid to get the survey done as part of the mortgage package). But they kept referring us back to the surveyor - and essentially washed their hands of us. I'd been with this bank since I was a child and even my personal banker was aghast. Needless to say we'll NEVER get a mortgage package from them again . The surveyor had since retired and it was difficult to get any response form him.

We complained to all the relevant ombudsmen - but the long and the short was we got no refund, and had to get the damp fixed before selling. I'm normally quite a chilled person (everyone at dog club thinks I need a rocket up my bum ) - but I was absolutely livid at the whole experience.

Sorry about the rant :), just reading your post brought it all back to me again :)

That's the survey I paid for, Homebuyers.  Surveyors and money for old rope come to mind.  The house was immaculate, what I call top-show but once we moved in we started to discover all the little cover-ups.  I'm not for top-show, my house is usually untidy but underneath everything is maintained and kept in good working order.  When I called the surveyor back to see what had been covered up he acted completely uninterested and the attitude was that surveyors aren't responsible for things that they can't see

Hi,
I wonder if some times it's our faults for not naming and shaming?
My Daughter has just brought another house, The survey only said the roof tiles would
need replacing in a few years. now she has gutted it, with 4 large skips she has found
woodworm in the joists in one bed room. Loose bare electic wires inder the floor boards.
Yes! been rewired in a fashion. Damp all over the floor in the kitchen and up the walls.
couln't be seen untill the kitchen units removed.
needless to say ever wall has been riped off and had some boards and all plastered.
They don't have anybody to answer to!! Just another way of ripping off the house buyer.