Seems to me to be a sensible idea - particularly that the seller provides a Home Condition Report.

Since most people selling are buying too, only forking out for one "survey" seems a good idea to me.

The only objections seem to come from surveyors (obviuosly I can see why they would object) and mortgage lenders - cynical as I am - do they have a vested interest in you spending mopre on multiple surveys so they can lend you more.


Are there any good reasons not to go for the homebuyers pack , other than those of preserving the stupid status quo to keep lenders and surveyors in pocket?

Have to agree - having to pay to get a place valued, just to then get beaten in the bidding... pretty inefficient way of doing things... and bloody expensive!!

What still makes no sence to me is closing cost and paperwork costs. You have to pay for a money loan.....

They are going to rape you with the "Interest", paying almost twice for the house, and they still want money fees

The sellers pack is the stupidest idea from the stupidest government we've ever had:mad:
Who the hell in their right mind would accept a survey provided by the seller, aside from making the selling of houses cheaper anyone with any sense can see that the costs will rise.
It's just another load of bureaucratic crap from a government that doesn't know where to stop:rolleyes:

The sellers pack is the stupidest idea from the stupidest government we've ever had:mad:


Here with us dutchees, this doesn't come from the government. It's a mechanism invented by brookers to "balance" the price difference(s) between various levels of packages mainly in bigger cities. This comes form somewhere in the '50's and was applied in the Amsterdam area for the first time.

Here with us dutchees, this doesn't come from the government. It's a mechanism invented by brookers to "balance" the price difference(s) between various levels of packages mainly in bigger cities. This comes form somewhere in the '50's and was applied in the Amsterdam area for the first time.

Well here's an idea of how our great and glorious government works:rolleyes:
It recently introduced a law that requires landlords of multiple occupancy houses to have a license supplied by the local council, it has to be renewed every three years.
The government did not state how much local authorities should charge, my local council which has a large number of these dwellings is charging something like £600 per license, the neighbouring council which is spread over a much larger area and doesn't have many such dwellings is charging around £200.

The house buyers pack would only have a brief survey. The buyers would need to get a detailed one anyway, particularly in drought areas of the UK where subsidence is likely. Also, many new houses are being built on flood plains - all very nice until winter rains and there's nowhere for the water to go

But as Rich rightly says, who would trust what a seller says anyway?

Col

In scotland, where there is an "offers over" way of bidding that will invariably be around 20-30% above the base amount. Every poor sod that wants to bid ends up having to get a survey... there may be a dozen or more people bidding for a good property - each will be given a survey that matches the bid that they want to place... there is a lot of flexibility from the surveyors part - they will just give you what you want and then they add a million caveats that remove any blame on their part if the property doesn't live up to the standards you expect... it is all a sham!! You could waste hundreds of pounds just to get outbid at the end. I think that there should be 3 surveys done and given to everyone that is interested.. the cost of which is split between the seller and the final buyer once the sale is concluded... not everyone that bids. Comments?!

I would rather pay for one survey done when buying selling a house rather than multiples.

I can't see a problem with the seller providing a survey, its actually an independent company who provides the survey - the seller just pays for it. The fact the survey isn't complete - I don't understand what they don't chage the law to make the survey complete and make sure that its the law that mortgagae lenders accept that as the survey before they learn.


It can't be diifcult to do - and it stops the absolute nonsense that exists now.

But hasn't the homebuyers pack idea been scrapped now anyway?

Col

But hasn't the homebuyers pack idea been scrapped now anyway?

who knows,

finally the labour government had a good idea - and its been stopped/delayed by those fleecing us with the current system.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5191816.stm

Okay
So the Home Buyers Pack

Would not include a structural survey (Required for mortgage)
Would not include a valuation survey (Required for mortgage)
Would only include basic searches
Would be no requirement to declare faults/problems by the seller
Okay so it is the vendor who pays (but puts it on price of property)
What benefit is it to buyer....None as it will not contain the bits that Mortgage lenders want
How will it safeguard/prevent gazumping....it will not
How will it speed up purchasing..it will not because it does not contain all required data for all involved

This is once again an ill conceived, ill thought out, ill planned brain attach by the plonker "two jags" Prescott.

he is a menace and liability and should be retired asap along with the rest of tye Blair camp

There does appear to be someone with some degree of intelligence however in that they have been made "non compulsory"

Len

It's just another load of bureaucratic crap from a government that doesn't know where to stop:rolleyes:

Or Start

To continue

I moved 5 years ago

Selling
Buyers survey (by Building Society defined Surveyor) of my property was basically okay but referred to Lack of ventilation in loft as a result of it being boarded over. Total crap as Boarding did not go fully to eaves, Externally all wood had been replaced with Building Regulading Approved "Ventilated" Soffits, bargeboards etc.

vent slots visible from ground level.

Buying
No mortgage so I commissioned private survey.

Was okay but referred to water tank situated on "composite board" support. that could fail.

Basically the water tank was sitting on a 50 mm chipboard board on a wooden frame fully supported underneath with supporting wooden struts as it had been for about 20 years.

How would it fail..... oh yes water leak... figured I would notice water dripping through ceiling if this happened and only if I ignored that would there be a problem with the ceiling collapsing cos there was no way the water tank would actually fall through the support framework that was resting on the ceiling joists



Moral

Do not trust a soul . Satisfy yourself on all points

Len

There does appear to be someone with some degree of intelligence however in that they have been made "non compulsory"


I couldn't disagree more - if they were full and compulsory and legally had to be accepted as the survey for the mortgage lenders - then bobs your uncle.



Its the weak implementation of a good idea thats the problem.

I couldn't disagree more - if they were full and compulsory and legally had to be accepted as the survey for the mortgage lenders - then bobs your uncle.

But the point is that they were not Full and Complete and they were to be compulsory.

If they were to be Full and Complete and accepted by Mortgage lenders then we would be talking about something a million miles different from two jags brain storm.

Len

What still makes no sence to me is closing cost and paperwork costs. You have to pay for a money loan.....

They are going to rape you with the "Interest", paying almost twice for the house, and they still want money fees
We can have similar situations in the UK where when the mortgage ends you have to pay for "them to get your deeds out of their storage,

Basically I decided I was not going to pay this as it was not part of the initial contract. In the end I sold and bought another property and did not need a mortgage so the mortgage company never caught on and supplied the deeds to my solicitor on my old house without a problem

One solution is when you get to the end of your mortgage leave 1 penny/cent outstanding.
1) The mortgae is still outstanding
2) The interest being changed is actually then quite small
3) The mortgage company continues to store your deeds safely at their storage "for free"

len

We can have similar situations in the UK where when the mortgage ends you have to pay for "them to get your deeds out of their storage,


May I ask how much that would be typically?

But the point is that they were not Full and Complete and they were to be compulsory.

If they were to be Full and Complete and accepted by Mortgage lenders then we would be talking about something a million miles different from two jags brain storm.

Len



Its a simple matter of the goverment needing to tell the mortgage lender what to do rather than the other way round.

To drop the idea because it not anywhere near perfect - seems like cutting off your nose depite your face to me.

To drop the idea because it not anywhere near perfect - seems like cutting off your nose depite your face to me.

I do not think it was dropped because it was not quite perfect. It was dropped because the basis was flawed. It would have done nothing at all to assist either vendor or vendee.

I do agree that some form of pack would be a good idea but it must be accepted by all involved parties.

I do not see it doing anything to prevent gazumping or the opposite where at the approach of contract exchange teh buyer suddenly reduces their offer. It does happen,
happened to my daughter 3 weeks ago. Buyer got told No.

House Packs

Just like a database
1) What do you want to achieve
2) What are the boundaries
3) What are the processes involved
4) Acceptance by all involved of Scope and Contents


Len

May I ask how much that would be typically?

No first hand experience but believe it would have been £200 £300 or so

Len

Its a simple matter of the goverment needing to tell the mortgage lender what to do rather than the other way round.

To drop the idea because it not anywhere near perfect - seems like cutting off your nose depite your face to me.

You are missing the point here Paul, the survey even the mortgage company carries out is not that detailed, it is only to satisfy the company that the bricks and mortar are worth what the buyer is asking to borrow.
Anyone who relies on just that survey without having a full independant survey is indeed foolish.

the survey even the mortgage company carries out is not that detailed, it is only to satisfy the company that the bricks and mortar are worth what the buyer is asking to borrow.

The place I owned before moving abroad was 'valued' for the mortage company by an external company using what they called an 'external summary valuation' and amounted to someone driving past the house and glancing at it. They didn't even stop the car.

Meaningless.

by the plonker "two jags" Prescott.

he is a menace and liability and should be retired asap along with the rest of tye Blair camp

Len


Yes and when his departments were taken away (because he f..... them up) he kept his overinflated wage packet:mad:

I think that you are all giving too much credit to the surveyors (apart from Matt). They just do a quick walk around of the house, pick a price that neighbouring homes are going for... write up a report... and then add another 3 pages of caveats and things that they weren't able to check because it was too difficult. It isn't worth the paper it's written on.

You are missing the point here Paul, the survey even the mortgage company carries out is not that detailed, it is only to satisfy the company that the bricks and mortar are worth what the buyer is asking to borrow.
Anyone who relies on just that survey without having a full independant survey is indeed foolish.


Just make the House Buyer Survey good enough - rather than scrap it.

Its scrapped purely because to many make too much money off the status quo as it seems to me.

Anyway its not going to happen - another thing Tony ****ing Bliar has fucked up - something we can all agree on.

another thing Tony ****ing Bliar has fucked up

Thanks for the attempt at covering the profanity... but I think you missed one! ;-)

Anyway its not going to happen - another thing Tony ******* Bliar has ****** up - something we can all agree on.

Now be fair

He was helped by that dumb cluck of a DPM

Len