We recently carried out a Schedule of Condition and Property Report on a substantial public house. Our client intended to take on the lease and as the property had some major work needed a Schedule of Condition helped to protect them against onerous clauses within the lease.

Public house – beer garden

The property we surveyed was a large detached early Victorian public house with substantial barn/outbuildings situated in a village area.

The pub sits on a sloping site which is contributing to the dampness entering the property, especially to the rear but it is also visible in the cellar and to the right hand side.

Sloping site

We always try and meet the client at the property that we are surveying to discuss their business requirements and any concerns they may have.

In this case we only met our client for a short while as they were going on holiday the next day and so we did not have the usual in depth conversation we would usually like. However it was obvious that they were experienced in investments and business and they were happy to leave us to carry out the survey and discuss any problems on their return.

Pub dining area

The public house had problems with its roofs and also dampness in the chimneys. We recommended that both of these were excluded from the lease.

With regards to the main roof we could see both a high level of dampness and also woodworm with the added possibility of dry rot.

Dampness in the roof

Woodworm

Frass on the end of the knife

Ponding on flat roof

Heavy vegetation to the rear flat roof

The property appears to have suffered from a general lack of maintenance over the years. We have already mentioned the flat roof and the vegetation growing on it but the same can be said for both the timber gutters and the outbuildings to the rear. The timber gutters were leaking and plants could be seen growing in them.

Plants growing in the gutters

The outbuildings to the rear of the property were very large and had not been maintained with some large areas overgrown with Ivy. Unfortunately we could not access all the outbuildings internally as the keys had been lost but most were suffering with damp. We had to advise that the outbuildings should also be excluded from the lease to protect our clients' interests.

Ivy covering the rear outbuildings