Buying property in Spain, is a structural survey recommend

[Wicksey]

I must admit I have never had a full structural survey done and I have had numerous properties over the years. The only thing we did have was to get a local builder look over a house we were buying in France as it was 200 years old and he had a lot of experience in working on that type of property. I felt his experience and comments were far more useful than a surveyor. However, it is up to the OP as to what they feel comfortable with doing.

if you can't see any obvious defects then it's likely to be sound.

Not sure I would agree as I have lived in a rental house that looked fine when we moved in but over the years started to slip down the hill to such an extent half of the house had to be demolished as it was cracking up so badly.

[katy]

The campo area where we used to live was heavily developed from 2002 onwards, despite the new planning laws. Around 25 plots were made in the hillside around us and many developed.

We saw a couple of villas being built with foundations but the others did not have any at all. I'm not sure that the houses had permission (being in the campo) and building regs here just don't seem to exist to the UK standard.

We saw hillsides being worked by a bulldozer for a couple of weeks to produce a flat platform, and the very next day a square of wooden shuttering was simply laid on the soil and filled with concrete. Within the next couple of days they began to build (usually large villas with pools). We used to go and 'inspect' the works when the workers had gone home and they used to leave a big uneven hole for the window to go in and then stop up the gaps with old cement bags and odd bits of rock.

One huge house was built by a couple of Moroccans who lived in the empty shell of the building. The owner would come up with a bag of food for them each day but we felt really sorry for them as they only had brick shell to live in with a basin for washing in and a 'bucket and chuck it' toilet. I don't think they were trained builder either!

We saw this type of building practice many times and is no exaggeration of how poorly they were built. Of course, the end finish of render and tiling made it all look wonderful, but we knew what was underneath (very little )

Wicksey,we saw the same around the campo in Marbella. We also saw many of them slide down the hill when heavy rain came. I imagine those 10 year build guarantees were about as good as the bank guarantees. One thing the Spanish are good at is putting a good finish on. Have seen massive cracks filled up with breeze blocks and plastered over to look great.

Never had a survey but I think we were lucky and if buying again would definitely have one. Have seen too many collapsed drives, flooded basements, swimming pools falling apart etc. there are some villas and it amazes me as to how they are still standing. One friend had 5 steps up to their front door and there was nothing underneath, you could see underneath the house too, just soil washed away.

[chrissiehope]

....the surveyor is a bit like a man listening to his wife moaning, he'll tell her anything she wants to hear
... a fault was found who do you think you're gonna sue ....

I assume you're talking about a Spanish surveyor, as a UK qualified one (RICS) wouldn't dream of doing this (if he wants to keep working as a surveyor). As for sueing, all UK surveyors have to have very expensive PII (Professional Indemnity Insurance) to cover the unlikely event that there is a problem. My late husband was a Fellow of the RICS with well over 30 years experience, and before ill-health changed our plans, he was looking into becoming registered in Spain.

So maybe the answer is to employ an RICS qualified surveyor who is based in Spain - these creatures do exist ! Contact the RICS in London for further info, as I believe they have a register http://www.rics.org/uk/about-rics/where ... -in-spain/

[Devils Advocate]

[forget it and go with your instinct !

I have to agree here.

[Manchesteral]

....the surveyor is a bit like a man listening to his wife moaning, he'll tell her anything she wants to hear
... a fault was found who do you think you're gonna sue ....

I assume you're talking about a Spanish surveyor, as a UK qualified one (RICS) wouldn't dream of doing this (if he wants to keep working as a surveyor). As for sueing, all UK surveyors have to have very expensive PII (Professional Indemnity Insurance) to cover the unlikely event that there is a problem. My late husband was a Fellow of the RICS with well over 30 years experience, and before ill-health changed our plans, he was looking into becoming registered in Spain.

So maybe the answer is to employ an RICS qualified surveyor who is based in Spain - these creatures do exist ! Contact the RICS in London for further info, as I believe they have a register http://www.rics.org/uk/about-rics/where ... -in-spain/

You're right on the money Chrissiehope, we all know the moral levels of some Spanish professionals.

[chrissiehope]

Sadly, the morals of some English professionals are not up to scrutiny - it was an English architect (working in Spain) who cost us nearly £20,000