Most buyers rely on a survey to tell them what’s physically going on with a property they’re thinking about buying. Which makes sense — surveys exist for exactly that reason. The trouble is the timing. By the time a survey is commissioned, you’ve already made an offer, the seller has accepted it, and you’re emotionally and financially committed to the outcome — so backing out on the basis of what a survey finds, even when it’s probably the right thing to do, is much harder than it sounds from the outside.
The advantage you had as a viewer walking through that property for the first time, before you’d offered anything, has gone. And that’s why I still walk every property I’m thinking about buying, myself, before I make an offer.
What a survey actually does — and doesn’t do
A building survey or a homebuyer report is a professional assessment of the property’s condition at a specific point in time, by someone with qualifications and professional indemnity insurance. It’s worth having, without question. But it has limitations that are worth understanding.
The surveyor is working to a time constraint. They’re following a methodology that’s partly about managing their professional liability alongside identifying problems. They can’t lift carpets, move furniture, open walls, or get into anything they can’t physically access and see. And crucially — they arrive after you’ve committed to the property, which changes how their findings get processed, by you and by the transaction as a whole.
What you can spot at the viewing
The things worth paying attention to on a viewing are not complicated, and most of them don’t require any particular training to notice. A patch of fresh plaster at low level in a room that hasn’t otherwise been touched — that’s a question worth asking. Skirting boards that give slightly when you press against them — worth noting. A loft hatch that appears not to have been opened in years, in a property that’s otherwise been renovated throughout — why? A smell that doesn’t quite match the presentation. Cracks above door openings or around window frames.
None of these is proof of a problem on its own. But each one is a reason to look more carefully, ask a question of the vendor, or factor something into your thinking before you offer. And you can only do that — and use the answers — at the viewing stage, when you still have the freedom to change your mind.
The viewing is when you have the most power
The viewing is when you have the most power in the whole purchase process. You can walk away without any consequences at all. You can use what you’ve noticed to negotiate before you’ve committed to anything. You can decide to bring someone with you on a second visit. You can ask the vendor or the agent directly why a particular corner of the property looks different from everything else, and pay attention to how they answer.
Once you’ve made an offer and it’s been accepted, that power is reduced considerably. Survey findings can sometimes be used to renegotiate — and should be, when they’re significant — but the dynamic is different. You’re no longer deciding whether to buy. You’re deciding whether to pull out. And those feel very different.
Why I still do this after all these years
I don’t walk properties because I think I’ll catch everything a surveyor would find, or because I’m suspicious of the process. I do it because the viewing is when I have the most freedom to look at anything, ask anything, and change my mind without cost. A surveyor tells me what’s there. The viewing tells me how it sits with me — what the presentation is doing, what my gut says when I press that skirting and it gives a little.
There’s also something that builds over time the more properties you walk. You develop a sense for what a well-maintained property feels like, even when it’s modestly presented. And a sense for what a poorly-maintained one feels like, even when it’s been freshly decorated before going to market. You notice things faster, and you know which parts of the property you need to look at more closely. That’s not formal expertise — it’s just accumulated attention, and it’s available to anyone who keeps paying it.
Get your survey — always, without exception. But don’t treat the survey as the thing that protects you from a bad decision — treat the viewing as the first line of protection, and walk it like someone who actually wants to know what’s there.
Here’s to successful property inspecting.
Peter Jones
Author, property investor and ex-Chartered Surveyor
PS. If you’d like a practical guide to what to look for on a property viewing, my book 63 Common Defects covers the things that cost buyers money when they miss them — and how to spot them before you commit. You can find it at thepropertyteacher.co.uk/63-common-defects-investment-property-spot/
