Look closer

The cost of buying a house can be immense. Deposits, solicitors, mortgage arrangement fees, removal vans and so on - it often feel as though it's all spiralling out of control. It's hardly surprising, then, that many housebuyers decide that an independent survey of the property they want to buy is one expense too many.

According to a Which? survey released last week, the majority of homebuyers are confused as to exactly what information a survey should provide, but with a chartered surveyor's survey costing at least ?450, all too many people decide to opt only for the lender's valuation instead, not realising that it will not offer them the detail they require.

A valuation is carried out for the lender, and not for the buyer. It is designed to find out whether or not the property is secure enough for the lender to feel happy about approving a mortgage secured on the property. While serious structural problems may be spotted, defects that won't affect the lender but may well affect you won't necessarily appear on the report. And even though the valuation is carried out by someone on the lender's side and not yours, you will usually have to pay between ?150 and ?200 for the service.

If you want a survey done by somebody who's on your side, then sadly you'll have to pay even more. There are two kinds of survey available, and prices vary. A 'homebuyers survey and valuation' (HSV) costs from around ?450, and is carried out to a standard format. It is suitable for properties built since 1900 and reports on the general condition of the property, significant defects which may affect the property's value and significant problems that need specialist inspections, such as electrical faults.

The surveyor should also cover damp testing and look for woodworm or rot in woodwork, and should check the quality of insulation, damp proofing and drainage. He or she should also tell you the market value of the property as well as what it would cost to rebuild, for insurance purposes.

However, there are certain things the surveyor won't report on. Surprisingly, he or she is not obliged to lift any carpets, move any furniture or go to the trouble of reaching inaccessible areas. So even though the survey is far more detailed and useful than a lender's valuation, your surveyor may still miss something of vital importance simply because it's hard to reach.

The next step is the 'building survey,' prices for which start at ?700. This more comprehensive survey is especially recommended for properties built before 1900, any listed building, any unusual building and all properties that have seen heavy alterations or are in need of renovation.

This level of survey should reveal all defects, major or minor, along with the possible cost of repairs, dampness in the walls and rot or woodworm in the woodwork and information on damp proofing, insulation and drainage. It should also contain technical information about the buildings' construction, its location and any recommendations of further inspections that it might require. It doesn't, however, provide you with a valuation, although the surveyor should be able to provide you with a separate report if you want one.

Of course, the risk you take when paying for a survey is that it might uncover some terrible defect that means buying the property would be an act of lunacy, and you will have paid several hundred pounds for the pleasure. Which does seem painfully unfair. But then if you had trusted the lender's valuation you might just have paid several hundred thousand pounds only to discover the problem when it's too late.

Fortunately, checking a property for defects should not remain the responsibility of the buyer forever. A government initiative to put the onus onto the seller is expected to be rolled out in the next few years, although precisely when remains a mystery. When it finally does come to pass, vendors will be obliged to provide a so-called seller's pack containing a detailed survey and valuation report so that buyers know exactly what they are letting themselves in for.

But until that day comes, buyers should continue to do the sensible, if more expensive thing, and make sure that the biggest purchase they are ever likely to make doesn't turn out to be the worst nightmare they ever had.