Home buyer surveys

As part of buying a home your mortgage lender will require you have a Home Buyer’s survey (otherwise known as a Home Buyer's report) carried out on the property. The Home Buyer’s survey will look for problems such as potential flooding, asbestos and will check to see if services like gas and electric are in working order.

A lot of people confuse the Home Buyer’s survey with a property valuation. A property valuation is carried out by an estate agent to set a price at which to sell whereas a Home Buyer’s survey is carried out by a qualified surveyor to make sure nothing is wrong with the property. If anything is flagged up then the buyer may ask the seller to reduce the price of the property to compensate for this.

The Home Buyer’s survey is broken down into three outcomes using a traffic light system

Green (Condition Rating 1)

No repair is currently required.

Amber (Condition Rating 2)

Defects are evident that need repairing or replacing but are not to be either serious or urgent.

Red (Condition Rating 3)

Defects are evident that are serious and/or need to be repaired or investigated urgently.