RESIDENTIAL BUILDING SURVEY

OF

Mid 1800s Detached Property

FOR

Mr and Mrs A Client

Prepared by:

GEM Associates Limited

INDEPENDENT CHARTERED SURVEYORS

Marketing by:

www.1stAssociated.co.uk

0800 298 5424

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
REPORT FORMAT
SYNOPSIS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
SUMMARY UPON REFLECTION

EXTERNAL

CHIMNEYSTACKS
ROOF COVERINGS AND UNDERLAYERS
ROOF STRUCTURE AND LOFT SPACE
GUTTERS AND DOWNPIPES AND SOIL AND VENT PIPES
EXTERNAL WALLS
EXTERNAL JOINERY
EXTERNAL DECORATIONS

INTERNAL

CEILINGS, WALLS, PARTITIONS AND FINISHES
CHIMNEYBREASTS, FLUES AND FIREPLACES
FLOORS
DAMPNESS
INTERNAL JOINERY
TIMBER DEFECTS
INTERNAL DECORATIONS
THERMAL EFFICIENCY
OTHER MATTERS

SERVICES

ELECTRICITY
GAS
PLUMBING AND HEATING
BATHROOMS
MAIN DRAINS

OUTSIDE AREAS

NO PARKING
EXTERNAL AREAS

POINTS FOR LEGAL ADVISOR

APPENDICES

LIMITATIONS
ELECTRICAL REGULATIONS
GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE PROPERTY MARKET

INTRODUCTION

Firstly, may we thank you for using our services once again and your kind instruction, we have now undertaken a Building Survey (formerly known as a Structural Survey) of the aforementioned property.

As you may recall the Building Survey takes the following format; there is an introductory section (which you are currently reading), which includes a synopsis of the building, and a summary of our findings.

We then go through a detailed examination of the property starting with the external areas working from the top of the property down, followed by the internal areas and the buildings services. We conclude with the section for your Legal Advisor and also attach some general information on the property market.

As we mentioned previously we are aware that a report of this size is somewhat daunting and almost off-putting to the reader because of this. Again we would stress that the purchase of a house is usually one of the largest financial outlays made (particularly when you consider the interest you pay as well).

As always we recommend that you set aside time to read the report in full, consider the comments, make notes of any areas that you wish to discuss further and phone us.

We obviously expect you to read the entire report but we would suggest that you initially look at the summary, which refers to various sections in the report which we recommend you read first so that you get a general feel for the way the report is written.

As part of our service we are more than happy to talk through the survey as many times as you wish until you are completely happy to make a decision. Ultimately, the decision to purchase the house is yours but we will do our best to offer advice to make the decision as easy as possible.

REPORT FORMAT

To help you understand our Report we utilise various techniques and different styles and types of text, these are as follows:

GENERAL/HISTORICAL INFORMATION

This has been given in the survey where it is considered it will aid understanding of the issues, or be of interest. This is shown in "italics" for clarity.

TECHNICAL TERMS DEFINED

Throughout the Report, we have endeavoured to define anytechnical terms used. This is shown in "Courier New" typeface for clarity.

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

We utilise photographs and sketches to illustrate issues or features. In some photographs a pencil has been used to highlight a specific area. The sketches are not 100% technically accurate; we certainly would not expect you to carry out work based upon the sketches alone.

 

 

 

ORIENTATION

Any reference to left or right is taken from the front of the property, including observations to the rear, which you may not be able to physically see from the front of the property.

ACTION REQUIRED AND RECOMMENDATIONS

We have used the term ACTION REQUIRED where we believe that there are items that you should carry out action upon or negotiate upon prior to purchasing the property.

Where a problem is identified, we will do our best to offer a solution. However, with most building issues, there are usually many ways to resolve them dependent upon cost, time available and the length of time you wish the repair/replacement to last.

SYNOPSIS

SITUATION AND DESCRIPTION

This is a two storey detached property with the rear wall forming part of the boundary wall. There are gardens to the front and end of the property.

The property has been extended over the years and amended and altered and for this reason it is very difficult to date; we would estimate the mid 1800s although original parts may be much older. If the exact age of the property interests you your Legal Advisor may be able to find out more information from the Deeds.

Putting Life into Perspective!

Some of the things that were happening around the time the property was built:

EXTERNAL PHOTOGRAPHS

Left hand side view

Right hand side view

Rear View

Passageway leading up to the property

Passageway leading up to the property

Gate to the property

ACCOMMODATION AND FACILITIES

Ground Floor

The ground floor accommodation consists of:

• Large Lounge with high ceilings
• Cloakroom
• Kitchen with store

First Floor

The first floor accommodation consists of:

• Two Bedrooms
• Shower Room

Outside Areas

Front and side gardens which look they will require minimal maintenance.

INTERNAL PHOTOGRAPHS

The following photos are of the internal of the property to help you recall what it looked like and the general ambience (or lack of). We have not necessarily taken photographs of each and every room.

Ground Floor

Lounge

Staircase

First Floor

Left Hand Bedroom

Right hand Bedroom

Shower Room

SUMMARY OF CONSTRUCTION

EXTERNAL

Chimneys:
Small flue

Main Roof:
A hipped pitched room clad with slates

Gutters and Downpipes:
Plastic

Soil and Vent Pipe:
Plastic

Walls:
A mixture of painted render, stonework and brickwork (assumed)

External Joinery:
A mixture of painted timber sliding sash windows and timber casement windows. Painted timber fascias.

INTERNAL

Ceilings:
Believed to be a mixture of lath and plaster and plasterboard (assumed), although we have not been able to see any of them

Walls:
Predominantly solid (assumed)

Floors:
Ground Floor: Solid underfoot, assumed to be concrete. There may be some elements of a suspended timber floor, as we believe this is what it originally was.
First Floor: Joist and floorboards (assumed)

SERVICES

The owner advised that the property has a mains water supply, mains drainage, electricity and gas (assumed).

The above terms are explained in full in the main body of the Report.

We have used the term 'assumed' as we have not opened up the structure.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Summaries are dangerous as they try to précis often quite complex subjects into a few paragraphs. This is particularly so in a summary about someone's future home when we are trying to second-guess what their priorities are, so it is important the Report is read in full.

It is inevitable with a report on a building of this nature that some of the issues we have focussed in on you may dismiss as irrelevant and some of the areas that we have decided are part of the 'character' of this property you may think are very important. We have taken in the region of fifty plus photographs during the course of this survey and many pages of notes, so if an issue has not been discussed that you are interested in or concerned about, please phone and talk to us before you purchase the property (or indeed commit to purchasing the property), as we will more than likely have noted it and be able to comment upon it. If we have not we will happily go back.

Generally we found the property in below average condition considering the property's age, type and style, but much of this relates to cleanliness and the decorative state of the property and there are a few characteristics that the property has that will be very difficult / expensive / impossible to remove, which we have identified in 'The Good', 'The Bad' and 'The Ugly' summary below.

The Good

Survey reports often are full of only the faults and general 'doom and gloom', so we thought we would start with some positive comments on the property!

• The property has potential; it will make a big difference to have all the furniture removed and a general de-clutter and good clean and redecoration.
• The garden is easily maintainable.
• Within walking distance of the shops.

We are sure you can think of other things to add to this list.

The Bad

Problems / issues raised in the 'bad' section are usually solvable, but often need negotiation upon. However, a large number of them may sometimes put us off the property.

1. Gutters and Downpipes
   

   From the condition of the render we are not absolutely certain that the gutters are catching the rain. Unfortunately it did not rain whilst we were at the property and this would be the only way to check.

   ACTION REQUIRED: Next time it rains heavily you need to stand outside the property and ascertain if the gutters are catching the rain water and / or leaking and amend as appropriate.

   ANTICIPATED COST: We would expect this to be in the hundreds of pounds, although we have not been able to check the severity of the problem, if indeed there is one.

   Please see the Gutters and Downpipes Section of this Report.

2. Flat Roof
   

   The flat roof is covered with felt; whilst the felt is in reasonable condition it is poorly detailed being predominately flat.

   ACTION REQUIRED: You will need to patch repair the roof. Ultimately when you come to re-roof it we suggest you add a fall.

   ANTICIPATED COSTS: The patch repairs will probably help the roof to last for 3 - 10 years before renewal is required.

   Please see our comments in the Roof Coverings Section of this Report.

3. Plastic Based Paint
   

   The property has had a modern plastic based paint applied. In our experience these do not work particularly well, as they don’t allow the property to breathe and a brick property of this age needs to have an element of breathability to dissipate the damp. We could see areas where it is starting to come away.

   ACTION REQUIRED: The paint should be removed and replaced with microporous paint, however in our experience this is very difficult / almost impossible to remove. You can encourage the paint to come off by using a soft brush. Ideally we would suggest you let it naturally come away and then redecorate, but this would make the property look in very poor condition and certainly wouldn't be very attractive.

   Please see the External Walls Section of this Report.

4. Dampness
   

   We found rising damp to the property, particularly to the rear wall. We think this could be due to either the gutters not catching the rainwater (that we have already mentioned) or a high ground level. Unfortunately we didn't actually access this rear wall as it is in your adjoining neighbour's garden and they were out at the time of our inspection.

   We did have access to one of the gardens and were able to take photos, but from the photo it is very difficult to tell how the ground levels lie; however, we can see that there is paving which does tend to carry rainwater rather than absorb it (as the ground would), and it may be discharging onto your property's walls.

   

   
   Your neighbour's side of your rear wall.

   ACTION REQUIRED: We would recommend you go round and see the neighbours and if this is the case then a French drain along the wall would be the solution.

   We would draw your attention to the green moss to the right hand side of the property which indicates that little light is being gained in this area, which will add to the dampness. We could see that in the past several attempts at adding a damp proof course have been made. We would make several comments:

   
   The pen indicates the inserted damp proof course and at the top we have a vent that is often used.

   We don't generally believe in rising damp being stoppable with an inserted damp proof course and much more commonly we find the problem to relate to difference in the ground level outside and the floor level inside, and/or cement repointing, and/or leaking gutters.

   ANTICIPATED COSTS: Investigation and the adding of a French drain would be in the region of £1,000, although it is difficult to estimate it as we have not actually seen that side of the property properly.

   Please see the Dampness Section of this Report and the Appendices for more information on French Drains.

5. Clean, make good and redecorate

   ACTION REQUIRED: It almost goes without saying that this property needs de-cluttering, a good clean and redecoration.

   ANTICIPATED COST: Costs for emulsioning would be in the region of £1,000 - £1,250.

   Gloss work tends to be the most expensive as it is labour intensive; set aside an additional sum of a further £500 - £750.

   Please see the Internal Decorations Section of this Report.

6. Services

   Electrics

   We would date the electric fuse board as being from the 1960s. Rewireable fuses are now superseded. Far better fuse boards are now available.

   ACTION REQUIRED: NICEIC (or equivalent) electrical test and report. Replace the fuse board as soon as possible.

   ANTICIPATED COSTS: In the region of £250 - £500, depending upon what else the tests find.

   Please see the Electrics Section of this Report.

   Water Pressure

   When we carried out our water pressure test by running the water we found the pressure to be low and upstairs the tap in the bathroom did not work at. This may simply be furred up pipes or it may be low pressure.

   Low pressure can be a problem with a shower (we did not try the shower). You may wish to look into installing a pump shower.

   ACTION REQUIRED: When we spoke to the owners they advised that the taps did not tend to work after you flushed the toilets!

   Please see the Bathroom Section and Plumbing and Heating Section of this Report.

   Old Boiler

   You have an older Glow-worm wall mounted boiler. Typically these boilers are said to last 20 years; this one is at the end of its sell by date!

   ACTION REQUIRED: You can have the option of replacing this when it eventually breaks down or pre-empting it and installing a modern condensing boiler in.

   ANTICIPATED COSTS: Assuming that the existing pipework and radiators will accept the pressure of a new boiler we would expect costs to be in the region of £2,250 - £2,750. Quotations required.

   Please see the Plumbing and Heating Section of this Report.

   Drainage runs from the kitchen back down the passageway

   The drainage runs from the kitchen back down the passageway are very shallow and may be susceptible to blockages.

   ACTION REQUIRED: There is very little you can do about this other than obtain a set of drainage rods or get to know someone who will carry out this job.

   Please see the Main Drains Section of this Report.

7. Parking

   We discussed the lack of parking and you advised that you believe you may be able to buy parking spaces in the nearby car park. We certainly think this would be a better option than leaving the cars on the roadside.

   Please see the External Areas Section of this Report.

The Ugly

We normally put here things that we feel will be difficult to resolve and will need serious consideration.

The only item we feel could move into the 'ugly' section is the paint problem that we have identified - both the difficulty of removing it and also the way it does tend to promote and cause dampness. Equally, another item that we considered moving into this section is the dampness in the property, which we think is most likely due to difference in ground levels.

Other Items

Moving on to more general information.

Maintenance

This type of property will require ongoing maintenance and repair and a budget for such work must be allowed to ensure it is maintained in good condition. This will prevent undue and unnecessary deterioration.

DIY/Handyman Type Work

There are numerous other items that we would class as DIY or handyman type work that can be done over a period of time. We have detailed these and other issues within the main body of the report.

Purchase Price

We have not been asked to comment upon the purchase price in this instance, we have however referred you to sources of general information on the housing market within the Information on the Property Market Section, which can be found in the Appendices at the end of the Report.

Every Business Transaction has a Risk

Every business transaction has a risk, only you can assess whether that risk is acceptable to you and your circumstances. You should now read the main body of the Report paying particular attention to any "ACTION REQUIRED" points.

Estimates of Costs

Where we have offered an estimate of building costs please remember we are not experts in this area. We always recommend you obtain quotations for the large jobs before purchasing the property (preferably three quotes). The cost of building work has many variables such as the cost of labour. For unskilled labour we currently use between £75 and £100 per day (the higher costs in the city areas) and for tradesmen we use between £100 and £200 per day for an accredited, qualified, skilled tradesman. Other variations include the quality of materials used and how the work is carried out, for example off ladders or from scaffold.

If you obtain builders estimates that vary widely, we would advise the work is probably difficult or open to various interpretations and we would recommend a specification is prepared. It would probably be best to supervise the work if it is complex, both of which we can do if so required.

SUMMARY UPON REFLECTION

The Summary Upon Reflection is a second summary so to speak, which is carried out when we are doing the second or third draft a few days after the initial survey when we have had time to reflect upon our thoughts on the property. We would add the following in this instance:

We would suggest that you have a walk around to the neighbouring property to the rear and have a chat with your rear neighbour to see if they would be happy with having work carried out.

As a general comment for any work required we would always recommend that you obtain at least three quotations for any work from a qualified, time served tradesperson or a competent registered building contractor prior to legal completion.

We would ask that you read the Report and contact us on any issues that you require further clarification on.

Would you buy a house based on this? This is an actual Building Society Valuation Survey, but the names and address have been changed.
BUILDIDNG SOCIETY VALUATION	GUIDANCE NOTES You have chosen a valuation report which is a limited inspection of the property highlighting only those items which we consider will materially affect value. It is prepared on instructions from The Building Society in accordance with the RICS Specification for Residential Mortgage Valuations a copy of which is available on request. Valuers cannot see through solids or see things that are hidden by wall and floor coverings. They will not move furniture or obstructions inside or outside, lift carpets, crawl under floors, climb ladders outside or go on roofs or fully enter roof spaces. Valuers will look at the outside of the property from the garden and adjacent public areas. Services including central heating system have not been tested. You still have the option to request a more detailed report and we would be pleased to help you with this. The valuer has assumed the property information supplied is correct although your conveyancer should verify this. If you wish to discuss any aspect of this report please contact the valuer. Do not forget to read the Advice for Applicants – it is important. GUIDANCE NOTES CONT.. You have chosen a valuation report which is a limited inspection of the property highlighting only those items which we consider will materially affect value. It is prepared on instructions from The Building Society in accordance with the RICS Specification for Residential Mortgage Valuations a copy of which is available on request. Valuers cannot see through solids or see things that are hidden by wall and floor coverings. They will not move furniture or obstructions inside or outside, lift carpets, crawl under floors, climb ladders outside or go on roofs or fully enter roof spaces. Valuers will look at the outside of the property from the garden and adjacent public areas. Services including central heating system have not been tested. You still have the option to request a more detailed report and we would be pleased to help you with this. The valuer has assumed the property information supplied is correct although your conveyancer should verify this. If you wish to discuss any aspect of this report please contact the valuer. Do not forget to read the Advice for Applicants – it is important.
Mr and Mrs Worried 1 Old House Old Road Old Town
PROPERTY: New House New Road New Town Roll No: 12345678 Date Inspected: 11 November 2003
DESCRIPTION: Type/Accommodation: A two bedroom semi detached bungalow Neighbourhood: The property is in a private residential area Age: The property is around 40 years old
CONSTRUCTION: Walls: Roof Roof: Tiled Services: All mains services are availableVALUATION & MARKET COMMENT In its present condition and with the current state of the property market my Valuation of the property is £170,000
MATTERS AFFECTING VALUE: In addition to items of routine maintenance and repair, urgent repairs are required to the following:- There is structural movement to the garage. You now need to get a structural engineer (or chartered building surveyor) to make a detailed investigation providing you with a full report identifying the cause, together with the costs of the work necessary to ensure future stability. I cannot give a valuation until I have seen the report. External woodwork requires overhaul, repair or replacement. Aspects of the service installations give cause for concern and you should obtain specialist advice. The garage roof is thought to contain asbestos material which may represent a health hazard. You should instruct a licensed specialist to check the property, as remedial work may be required. This work could be expensive and may have to comply with legal requirements.
MATTERS FOR YOUR CONVEYANCER Tenure: I understand the property is freehold.
VALUER Signature: Name: Address: Telephone: