Owning your own home

I don't blame you for getting one first time out as it should give you some reassurance, but surveys on London Victorian houses could mostly just be photocopied and handed out on street corners, they are so similar.

As mentioned ^^ they will say blah blah looks reasonably sound but you need to speak to a damp / roof / subsidence / electrical / plumbing expert (delete as applicable) to get proper advice.
Surveyors = another massive rip-off in the house buying process. IMO.

Yeah we got fucked by ours - we didn't even go for the cheapest grade of survey but the report was basically all caveat and boilerplate, and the bastard didn't even notice that the roof wasn't watertight, the bathroom plumbing leaked constantly, and the electrics were dangerous. We made the mistake of going with the mortgage company's surveyor, and in future I would always engage my own - recommendations above noted.