Survey it Yourself
When you've found a promising property that you're interested in purchasing you may want to get a survey done to lower the risk of being landed with a duffer and ending up with a terminally empty wallet. Whilst the mortgage lender will perform a survey before they will lend you any money, it is normally very cursory: sometimes they only drive past to make sure the house is there! They may charge you separately for this or it may be rolled up in the deal somewhere, but don’t mistake it for a structural survey that ascertains whether the property is free from defects.