When I first started this service, I wrote to just over five hundred agents in Yorkshire and neighbouring counties, offering an insight into how I could help them and their clients achieve a smoother, and less expensive, sale.  I also pointed out to them that the savings to their clients would, in the vast majority of cases, more than pay for the cost of my services.  

In addition to the above, I also canvassed approximately the same number of mortgage brokers, providing them with similar information. 

To date, I haven’t received a single response from either an estate agent or a mortgage broker - not one.  And this experience is shared with other independent remedial surveyors, in other parts of the country. Given the damage that unscrupulous and/or uninformed damp-proofing contractors can inflict on unwary buyers and sellers this lack of interest from people at the sharpest end of the industry is indefensible. 

When a house is being surveyed on behalf of the buyer or their mortgage company and it is flagged as having either ‘high moisture meter readings’ or ‘indications of timber infestation’ the valuing surveyor almost invariably asks for further ‘specialist’ reports. 

Not all, but certainly most buyers, especially those doing this sort of thing for the first time are unsure what to do for the best when they learn of this requirement, and it often comes as a surprise; consequently, most people approach either the estate agent or the mortgage broker for help. Very often of course the agent is wearing two hats and acts as the mortgage broker too.

Now, it should be in the interests of all parties to establish exactly the extent of any potential problems the valuer uncovers, and the agent or broker is probably in the best position to take the lead in this; after all, that’s what they’re there for and it’s what they do it all the time. 

Most people would readily understand that what is needed in such circumstances is an unbiased, objective assessment of the property’s needs, (if indeed it has any) so that they are diagnosed correctly. If this is not done then either the vendor or the purchaser could be paying out large sums of money unnecessarily. Worse still, the sale could be placed in jeopardy and eventually fall through.  

Unfortunately, and for reasons that can only be imagined, most estate agents and brokers do not do this. Instead they choose to have these assessments carried out by someone who is not only unencumbered by any recognised qualifications or related experience, but who also has a vested interest in unearthing non-existent, expensive problems; and even though there is unlikely to be anything seriously wrong, this ‘Muppet with a Moisture Meter’ will doubtless find something to justify his existence and enhance his bank balance. 

If I were trying to be generous I could say that perhaps a lot of agents and brokers are simply unaware that independent surveys exist.  However my experience dictates this is not the case, and anyway, my colleagues and myself have spent many hours, writing many letters, so as to make them aware of their alternatives. 

 Very often, brokers and agents simply have cosy relationships with remedial treatments contractors, and once such relationships are established, they tend to be mutually productive. Also of course, the Muppet will often provide a ‘free’ survey, and although this can be very appealing, the damage it is likely to cause to their client’s welfare is beyond any doubt. 

I fully understand that at the time of a sale or purchase spare money is like hen’s teeth, and persuading buyers to pay for another survey when they’ve just spent a considerable amount on a Homebuyer or similar report can be a difficult hurdle for the agent to overcome. However, not to even attempt to do so could be construed as a dereliction of their duty, especially to their primary client, the buyer.  Although it may initially appear attractive, and have the added benefit of demonstrating what a ‘good egg’ the much-maligned agent really is (by putting the buyer in contact with someone who will provide a ‘free’ survey), the long term prospects of all concerned are jeopardised - Muppet excepted of course. 

Just think about that for a moment.  A contractor, who makes a living from installing damp-proofing systems, has been asked to give an opinion on whether a building - your [intended] home or, if you’re the vendor, your nest egg - needs a damp-proofing system.  What’s he going to say?  Well, no prizes for that one I’m afraid. He’s going to say, “Yes, of course it does; and here’s how much it’ll cost…” 

But because the clients don’t know any better, and the agent/broker is aware that the deeper the buyer gets into the transaction, the more difficult it is for them to withdraw, the eventual ‘crunch’ is delayed until the Muppet comes back with his ‘report’.  And it is only then that both buyer and seller realise a further tranche of cash may be needed to progress the sale. Who eventually coughs up is determined by the market conditions.  Sometimes the buyer has to pay; sometimes the seller is the unlucky one. If an objective survey had been carried out In the first place, in the vast majority of cases, neither of them would be troubled; and if any work is actually required, at least it will be genuinely so.

And all this because the estate agent, who, remember, is supposed to be looking after the interests of his/her client, chose to instruct a completely biased contractor to carry out a ‘free’ survey.  Simply because they didn’t have the courage to tell the buyer that something worth having, i.e. an objective survey, is worth paying for. To spread any pain, they could easily explain the situation to the vendors and see if they’ll chip in to help pay for the survey fee. 

Don’t let this happen to you. As a buyer or seller, you have an absolute right to commission your own survey in response to a valuation or Homebuyer report.  It may cost you an initial fee but it will almost certainly be less than the consequences of a damp contractor’s visit. An independent surveyor is far more interested in saving the cost of unnecessary work than removing extraneous cash from the transaction. 

So, when your agent or broker offers to arrange a follow up ‘survey’, saying something along the lines of: “…we always use these chaps, they’re very good…” just say ‘No thanks’ and contact an independent. If you can’t find one locally, contact me and I’ll try and help. 

The impetus for this article occurred during a survey I recently carried out on a house in Northern England, which made me wonder, for the umpteenth time, what one needs to do to convince estate agents that relying on ‘free’ surveys to examine potential problems is not only a complete waste of time, it is also a major injustice to their clients.  I have very little faith that estate agents will be persuaded to change their ways but you, as the client, really can have an influence, and you should be aware of the kind of scenario that regularly plays out… 

The house, in Northumberland, had been the subject of an offer and was subsequently surveyed on behalf of the buyer. The cost of this survey – I think it was a ‘Homebuyer’ report - was nigh on five hundred pounds and it indicated, somewhat vaguely, that ‘high moisture meter readings were noted etc…’ and that further ‘specialist’ reports were required.  The buyers duly contacted the selling agents for help. 

The agent should then have contacted the vendors to discuss the situation and take their instructions, but she didn’t.  This may have been because the vendor was out of the country, although they were easy to contact by email etc, or it could have been that she was simply exercising her own initiative.  Whatever, she said nothing to them but instead contacted the local branch of a [national] remedial treatments company.  

Now that in itself could be construed as a bit naughty, as the vendors knew nothing about any of this, and as it eventually turned out, it was catastrophic for the sale. 

This national company ‘surveyed’ the property and – surprise, surprise - opined it needed a new damp proofing course; that it had had one just a few years before is another twist to the tale, but one I shall not dwell on here.  The estimate for this work was for several thousand pounds and, to cut a long story short, the vendor, who didn’t trust the remedial company, wouldn’t pay. As the buyer couldn’t pay, and a compromise couldn’t be reached, the sale eventually fell through. 

The reason for the vendors’ distrust of the remedial company and their findings was based on their awareness of the way these people go about their business.  I had acted for these clients previously, just a couple of years before when they were purchasing another property, and at that time my findings had saved them several thousand pounds they would otherwise have spent on unnecessary damp-proofing and timber treatment works. Funnily enough, the same estate agents were involved with that transaction too, so in this case they were certainly aware of the availability of independent surveyors. 

Anyway, once it was obvious the sale would fall through the vendor asked me to prepare an independent damp and timber report so that any problems that might arise from a future Homebuyer survey etc, could be forestalled. 

This I did; and suffice it to say that except for minor problems of penetrating dampness around one of the door frames there were no other significant issues with the house: the cost of repairs will probably be less than two hundred pounds.  In short, the mis-diagnosis had cost the vendor his sale and the buyer their hopes of buying what was probably their dream home. 

After the survey, while I was returning the key to the agent, I asked her why she had contacted the remedial company even though she was aware that independent surveyors (and in particular, yours truly) stride the land and visit places far more remote than Northumberland.  Without so much as batting an eye she said, “Because they do a free survey; and anyway, we use them all the time; they’re very good.”

The words ‘very’ and ‘good’ were emphasised with what seemed to me a misplaced degree of hushed reverence.

“But my dear, it cost you the sale …” seemed an inappropriate response in the face of such blissful certainty. 

If any estate agents are reading this, please be aware: you will save more sales, and have happier clients, by biting the bullet and getting the buyer to pay for follow-up reports. 

Free Surveys are seldom that.  What’s worth having is worth paying for.  But you probably knew that already …