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When buying property in Notting Hill, you must have a property survey done. This is usually required when you buy a house, flat, or commercial building.
Even when seeking a lease extension, a property inspection may tell you the building is basically sound enough to be re-leased.
Notting Hill has a rich and diverse housing stock and, if you buy in the borough, you’ll want to know what you’re buying in much the same way as if you’d invested in a stock. A typical property inspection assesses a building’s structure and identifies defects and problems that could undermine its reliability and value.
This guide will provide information about property surveys in the Notting Hill area. It will look at the role of RICS chartered surveyors in Notting Hill, the types of surveys they perform, and how the Notting Hill property market operates.
Property in Notting Hill is as diverse as any. There are new builds, converted buildings, and Listed Buildings, amongst many others. Unfortunately, Notting Hill’s clay is not good for basements, and some homes in the area do have serious subsidence problems. Thus, it is very important to have a Notting Hill property surveyed by a Notting Hill surveyor who is very familiar with the problems that properties here can have.
When you commission a building survey on a property, you want to ensure the survey is conducted by a qualified and competent individual. Building surveys are most often carried out by members of one of several institutional bodies. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is one key professional body, but there are several others, including the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and the Residential Property Surveyors Association (RPSA), that also represent their members in public life. These bodies also regulate the professional conduct of their member surveyors, and the members tend to be building surveyors by trade.
The type of survey required for a property depends on the nature of the property, its age, and whether the buyer is obtaining a mortgage. Properties that are old or have the potential to hide significant defects are best served by condition reports or RICS building surveys; the latter is more suitable.
As for valuation, this should be carried out separately by a Registered Valuer. In Notting Hill, we have many property types that can be served best with either the Level 2 HomeBuyer report or the Level 3 survey; this is an important distinction.
When you forgo a property survey, you take a risk – a risk that could take the form of surprise defects appearing in the property you are considering. Surveyors are good at what they do and can spot real problems. The best surveyors even itemize and estimate the cost of major repairs.
If flaws like wood rot or inadequate foundations are discovered early on, you are much better situated to make a choice on whether to purchase the property at the asking price.
Your property’s investigation will run from a £700 to a few thousand pounds; it all depends on how much scrutiny is required. A straightforward Homebuyers report will suffice for most dwellings constructed in the last couple of decades. For more expensive, older, or larger properties, a full building survey is likely the better bet.
Surveying a property in Notting Hill can be highly advantageous for those purchasing, investing, or otherwise acquiring a home in that area. Conducting a property survey prior to obtaining a mortgage can almost be considered a standard practice.
One way or another, the mortgage lender will expect some sort of survey to be performed on the property; it will want an appraisal as a baseline to help it determine whether or not the property is a good risk.
If you’re buying a property and want to avoid nasty shocks after you’ve moved in, get it surveyed. Choose the right kind of survey to make sure that any issues are found, and to get a rough idea of how much it would cost to repair those defects.
Identify Defects: whether the defects are small or large, knowing about them early on helps you manage them much more easily.
Plan for the Future: whether the place is fresh from a builder’s hands or has been occupied by previous owners, you must have a good grasp of its condition to plan for its upkeep–both routine and remedial–throughout the time you intend to occupy it.
Contractor Quotes: sometimes, your surveyor may identify items that let you re-negotiate with the seller.
The RICS is one of the main professional bodies in the property and construction sectors. It is a private organization, not a government agency, which has quite a lot of influence. This is due to the fact that its members around the world cover a huge swathe of the global property market. Even if you are not based in the UK, as the RICS has a strong international presence, you will in all likelihood come across RICS members and firms in the course of your dealings with the property market. Notting Hill is one of the localities covered by the RICS.
Typically, the cost of a property survey depends on the size, location, and value of the property. If you’re considering a property at a high price point, as you might in Notting Hill, and one that is of considerable aesthetic and functional value, a full building survey would be the route to go.
Homebuyers Report: these generally cost around £700 and will identify any major issues. Valuations can be added, but at an extra charge.
Full Building Survey: a complete building appraisal generally begins at £800. However, the fee will vary according to the size, location, and value of the property. This assessment has the potential to uncover any damage and disrepair that might cost you a small fortune to set right. If you’re buying an older or pricier piece of real estate, the full building survey is definitely worth the investment. If any issues come to light, the report can provide leverage for you in renegotiating the purchase price.
Valuation: this finds out the market price of a property and the median costs to rebuild it—data your mortgage lender will need. It has nothing to do with property condition, which you would need a separate report for (Homebuyers or Full Building Survey). Determining worth does involve the property size, location, age, and condition, but it also considers the property’s history in the real estate market and whether there have been any substantial alterations made to it. This service can help you with price negotiations and resolving disputes. It is also valuable for tax assessments. If you are looking to refurbish a property, you can use it as a way to forecast what your budget will be based on what the property might be worth when all the work is done. It typically costs around £700.
Specific Defect Report: this is an in-depth appraisal of a specific problem that may have been identified in the mortgage valuation or building survey, such as subsidence or dampness. If some specific concern needing further exploration was pointed out in the valuation or survey, that work would usually be undertaken by a building surveyor or structural engineer. The cost can vary between about £500 and £1,500 depending upon what the problem is and how they go about sorting it out.
Roof Survey: aerial surveys can be significantly cheaper than full building surveys. The need for a roof survey may have been brought to your attention during a building or mortgage survey or because you had a particular concern about the roof. You may think that a survey of the roof is an unnecessary expenditure, but you must also consider the potential cost of re-roofing. If a building survey has already been done and the roofing condition seemed fine, then a roof survey may not be necessary. Roof surveys can be done in a number of ways, including using a drone and a pole camera. If you want to get a survey done sooner rather than later, expect a cost of at least £600, with the cost going up depending on the survey method used.
The distinction between a Homebuyer’s report and a building survey is the level of investigation.
A homebuyer’s report is suitable for acquisition of a relatively modern property of conventional design. It visually exams the inside and outside of the property. If any significant or urgent defects are found, they are reported.
In contrast, a building survey is much more detailed and gives a complete picture of a property’s state. It is directed at larger, older, more expensive, or non-standard properties. A building survey carries out a detailed examination of the condition of the property and includes a description and discussion of visible defects and to the potential problems that might be caused by hidden flaws. It will describe repairs required with a timeline for when things must be done to avoid further deterioration of the property. The building survey also includes a discussion of what non-visible problems might ultimately lead to the property failing.
The RICS Homebuyer report—the cheapest property survey for domestic home purchases—has become widely accepted across the industry. It uses a traffic light system to get an evaluation of a property’s condition. Green, in this context, means the property is in good condition; orange means the property might need some attention but not urgently, and red means the property needs repairs as soon as possible or else something very serious needs to be looked at in a hurry.
The Homebuyers report is not quite as in-depth as a full building survey, for instance, but it does provide you with the confidence that you are purchasing a liveable home. If your Homebuyers report finds any defects in the property, or if it has any serious concerns, then it gives you the opportunity to ask the seller to remedy the situation, or to reduce the sale price, or to make you reconsider the purchase completely. RICS homebuyer reports can also be used when renegotiating or extending a lease on a property by factoring in the condition of the property.
The Full Building Survey report includes the following:
When it comes to the detail that the surveyor will go into concerning defects, repairs, and maintenance, the Homebuyer Survey is fairly standard. Full Building Surveys, however, are more refined and go into more detail about possible and likely defects. Repairs and maintenance are covered in more detail. The Survey cost depends on the age, size, and value of the property.
The analysis they undertake is a visual inspection. This means that, for the most part, the building components that can be seen will be looked at and assessed in accordance with the surveyor’s remit. The Home Survey Report will show you the visible defects and then go on to discuss the kinds of partially hidden or totally hidden defects that the surveyor thinks you should be aware of. It will also try to clarify what kinds of repair work need to be done and the nature of the repairs. The survey is effectively a way to consider “defects” and their potential impact on the building.
A Building Survey Report contains the most important information for understanding the condition of a property. The surveyors that undertake the work follow a set procedure. The first part of the report contains a general overview of the property and its surroundings. The second part details the major and minor problems with the property’s components, inside and out. These problems range from serious structural defects to issues with doors or windows that don’t close properly, and everything in between. The report is written in clear English, complemented by diagrams and photographs. If any of the problems found are what a surveyor might consider important, that’s what the report indicates—using clear and unambiguous language.
Surveyors usually use a tick box to indicate methods of repair when drafting a building survey report. They are also required to comment on the timescale of any repairs. A condition rating is typically included: what needs to be addressed immediately, what is in the process of deteriorating but is in reasonable condition, and what has not deteriorated at all.
A building surveyor is responsible for a variety of checks and tests during a building inspection. These could be checks or tests for damp and woodworm, or they could be visual inspections of the building’s structure. In building surveying, there are visual inspections of roofs – checking for tiles and slates (if applicable) and also checking for leadwork (if applicable) and looking at the junctions between roof and wall. If the wall structure has brick in it, the surveyor will visually check for any “spalling” (brick breaking apart visibly) and any bulging (brick failing to hold its place visibly), for example.
If defects need fixing immediately, then the options recommended for this survey specify what to repair and give some idea of how long the problem has existed. For the most part, this survey describes recommended repair approaches that are standard in the industry and that do not require excessive expenditure. Future maintenance is also discussed, including what to expect when the problem being surveyed is not repaired and what to expect with repairs that are made but with questionable methodology.
Your surveyor will explain some of the legal aspects of purchasing the building, covering—in as much or as little detail as you desire, and their implications, but this is subject to your solicitor verifying.
You might consider having a separate market valuation done to determine whether the property’s asking price is warranted. You’ll also need a reinstatement cost valuation for insurance reasons.
RICS’s industry guidelines suggest building surveys for properties that are large, very old, in some disrepair, or have unusual features. Building surveys are also recommended if you plan to do any significant renovations or extensions.
If you’re purchasing a relatively modern home that’s in decent shape and built to ordinary standards, then a Home Buyer Survey is an acceptable choice. If you want the assurance of an inspection and report that are pretty much guaranteed to turn up any issues that might be hidden or just hard to see, then you should go for a Full Building Survey instead.
The Full Building Survey is more detailed; it is more specifically tailored to the property your surveyor would be inspecting. It also comes with more advice on the visible defects found and on the potential hidden defects that they suspect may be present. Your surveyor will illustrate reports with photographs so that you can clearly see what has been discovered. Both the Home Buyer and Full Building Surveys describe the repairs needed, the order in which the repairs should be done, and the kind of “maintenance measures” that will be required to keep the property in good condition.
A HomeBuyer Report does include a market valuation as well as reinstatement costs. However, a Full Building Survey does not. The main reason for the differences in what is and isn’t included in the two types of reports is how focused the reports are on the condition of the property. The Full Building Survey is the most in-depth and comprehensive survey of a property that you can have done.
This is the most detailed report and usually takes several days to compile, but it gives a complete overview of the property. It costs more than a Homebuyer report but could save you more by picking up on extra defects. The report covers potential movement/subsidence, timber defects (e.g. rot), damp, condensation, utility services (gas, hot water, heating, and electrics), and the structural integrity of the building frame (roof, chimneys, walls, etc.).
The principal advantage of the full-building survey is that it offers an overarching perspective of the subject property. The survey can aid in determining whether the property is a worthwhile investment and whether there are major or minor defects that aren’t immediately apparent. For instance, while there may be some purely cosmetic changes needed, there could well be some areas that will demand a great deal of excessive and expensive work in the next few years.
Looking for a Chartered Surveyor? If you are buying a property, contact us for a building survey. Our panel of CIOB, RPSA and RICS surveyors will help you with the Level 2 or Level 3 property survey you need in Notting Hill. We can also assist you in Red Book Valuations, Party Wall Awards and other services. Reach out to us today for building surveyors, valuers and party wall surveyors in London!
