Most home owners are familiar with the need to have a survey undertaken for their mortgage company as part of the purchase process when buying a new home - usually this takes the form of a structural survey as well as some form of valuation. These surveys are commonly used by mortgage lenders to ensure that all parties are aware of the condition of the property before the transaction completes and that the amount being lent meets their criteria when measured against the market value of the property. Fewer house purchasers will be aware of the potential need to have a tree survey report or arboricultural survey completed.
Usually an arboricultural tree survey is requested following on from the building survey itself, this might be due to concerns raised by the surveyor, or indeed the potential purchaser, regarding the proximity of tree or trees to the property, including those that may not actually belong to the seller of the property. There may be evidence of structural damage to the property that might have been caused been caused by trees, or there may be the potential for future damage to occur.
In most cases trees and buildings can exist in proximity to one another without any negative effects - but trees and their root systems can cause subsidence, structural damage, issues with drains, distortion to hard surfaces such as driveways and paving. If there are such risks, a professional tree survey can help inform both the lender and the purchaser of the likely costs in addressing these going forward enabling them to be built into the decision making process both from a financial perspective as well as a practical one.
At Bawden Tree Care we feel that, whilst at first sight the need to obtain an tree survey report as part of a mortgage application might be seen as a another layer of cost and stress, it should be considered in the positive as a great piece of due diligence - helping provide peace if mind for both the mortgagee and in turn the mortgagor.
Hopefully this short article will have provided some useful background information - there are additional details regarding tree surveys and mortgage applications on the 'Tree Survey Section' of our web site - click here to explore more. Alternatively we are always on hand to offer advice and guidance on surveys so please don't hesitate to contact us.
