Monday, February 23, 2015

Every Nook And Cranny

I have never had a private survey done on a property I have bought. I've had the building society one which is basically them checking they can't get their fingers burnt. In France their is a different system whereby the seller has to have a full survey done, And full certainly covers it. It may cost about £450 but it runs to some 75 pages of very detailed information. Checking especially for asbestos (11 pages), lead (9 pages) and termites (17 pages). All is well on our property, the stuff that is there is not is a dangerous condition. But in addition, every room has a detailed description of how the walls, ceiling and flooring are constructed. A complete electrical check. A complete check of the swimming pool runs to a further 7 pages. The only thing missing appears to be a blade by blade check of the lawn.

Now, maybe that is what we get for a private survey but I suspect not. People complain about French bureaucracy but when you are buying a house it isn't half reassuring to have all that information.

Even if it going to take us 6 months to translate it!

1 comment:

Masher said...

450 quid isn't a lot. I seem to remember paying about 350 for the basic Building Society survey on this place. And that was seventeen years ago, so gawd knows what it would cost today, especially if we had a report like you've got!