Some 200,000 homebuyers commission surveys annually and roughly 1 per cent – about 2,00 people a year – have in the past complained to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). But last year the RICS told its members to set up their own complaints systems and established a new scheme run by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Taking a complaint to arbitration costs a registration fee of £250, which you get back if you win. But if you lose a claim for between £3,000 and £50,000 you are likely also to have to pay the arbitrator’s costs of up to £1,125 as well as the surveyor’s complaint fee of £235 and in some cases VAT. The total cost of an unsuccessful claim for as little as £3,100 could be more than £1,500.

Which? magazine has called for the arbitration scheme’s charges to be scrapped. It has also said the scheme should be replaced by an ombudsman who covers all surveyors, not just RICS members.

A spokesman for RICS points out that the arbitration scheme applies only to surveys done since last September and that some complaints will not yet have reached it. He also argues that the low number of complaints to arbitrators may indicate that firms’ own efforts are working well. "If the complaints system is free then some people will abuse it. There are cases of people driving firms to distraction," he added. But RICS will review the arbitration scheme if it proves not to be working.

How a complaint is handled is more important, as surveyors sometimes miss problems which you’ve paid them handsomely to uncover. Recent research by Which? found that of eight firms tested all missed problems they should have found. Some surveyors also overlooked significant hazards such as asbestos gutters and ceiling stains which suggested rotting.

WHICH? has also pointed out that too many surveyors’ contracts limit their liability to buyers or recommend unnecessary specialist reports. The RICS members’ Homebuyers Report for example, says the surveyor may identify "significant matters requiring further investigation where essential (e.g. suspected subsidence) for which the client should obtain (and may have to pay for) reports and quotations from suitable contractors".

In other words, if the surveyor finds something nasty, he may well pass you on to another "expert" – at additional cost. The RICS Homebuyers Report also says the surveyor will not move furniture or floor coverings and will not test a property’s electrical, gas, plumbing, heating or drains.

But despite these problems it is almost certainly worth getting your own Homebuyer’s Report or full Building Survey. It reduces the risk of you buying a property needing expensive repairs or which is so structurally unsound that it will be hard to sell. It may also help you persuade the seller to accept a lower price for the property.

Roy Illott, a Chartered Surveyor in Epsom, Surrey, recalls a house in which the owner had removed the chimney breast at the back of the property – a reasonably common alteration – leaving an unsupported chimney at roof height. "At the back of was a huge lump of brick work which might have been perched on a four and a half inch brick wall. It could have made the back wall of the house collapse," he said. Understandably the prospective buyer pulled out.

Howard Jenkins, a Chartered Surveyor in Southampton, says other nasties which should be picked up by a survey include slate roofs repaired with a foam-like substance which speeds up their disintegration, badly fitted replacement windows which let in rain, cavity wall insulation in places where it causes damp to penetrate the wall and damp courses which have been covered with soil, leading to dry rot in the ground floor.

Leaseholders who live in a building whose common parts need repairs could also be landed with large bills from the freeholder. And perceived hazards in the area near the property – such as telephone masts and even genetically modified crops – could also affect its value. A decent surveyor will point all of this out.

Your mortgage lender is likely to insist on a valuation survey for which you may have to pay about £100. But this is simply to reassure the lender that your home is worth what it’s lending. It is relatively cursory and is unlikely to tell you all you want to know.

If you want more, the choice is between a homebuyer’s report and a Building Survey – also known as a full structural survey. RICS members are likely to use a nine-page standard-format homebuyer’s report, for which they usually charge between £250 and £400. RICS say the reports are suitable for conventional houses, flats and bungalows in reasonable condition. They also include a valuation of the house and an estimate of what it would cost to rebuild it – essential for buying buildings insurance.