Party Wall Surveying for Garden Rooms, Outbuildings and Home Offices: When Do ‘Minor’ Structures Need Notices?
The UK saw a 76% surge in garden room and home office installations between 2020 and 2023, and that trend has continued into 2026 — yet a significant proportion of those projects were completed without the owners ever considering whether the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applied [2]. The assumption is almost universal: a timber-framed […]
Valuation and Expert Witness Work in Residential Landlord–Tenant Disputes: Building a Robust Evidence Base Under New Renting Rules
The 2026 expansion of Awaab's Law introduced five new hazard categories and triggered an estimated 40% increase in landlord–tenant disputes — a surge that has placed chartered surveyors acting as expert witnesses under unprecedented scrutiny [4]. At the same moment, the Renters' Rights Act has reshaped the tenancy landscape by abolishing fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies […]
How Surveyors Can Assess Subsidence, Settlement, and Movement Without Overstating Risk
Roughly one in five property transactions in the UK is delayed or renegotiated after a building survey raises concerns about structural movement — yet the majority of cracks found in residential buildings are cosmetic and pose no structural threat whatsoever. Understanding how surveyors can assess subsidence, settlement, and movement without overstating risk is therefore one […]
