Independent Residential Building Survey Client Review

on Buying a Victorian property without a mortgage

Independent Building Surveyors

If you are in the process of purchasing a property either as a cash purchase or with a mortgage our Independent Surveyors at 1st Associated  can provide you with help and advice. We can carry out structural surveys, home buyers reports, independent valuations, property surveys, engineers reports, structural reports, defects report.

Please call us on 0800 298 5424 for a friendly chat.

How a Building Survey can help when you come to re-sell the property?

When you are dealing with a client who is buying a property for cash you have to consider that at some point they will want to sell the property and it's likely that the prospective buyer will need a mortgage. This is one reason we would use a Chartered Surveyor as they understand how buildings work and also usually understand how mortgage companies think. Chartered Surveyors also have an appreciation of how alterations and problems such as damp can affect the value of the property and the costs involved in repairing and solving the problems.

Caveat Emptor or buyer beware!

Caveat emptor means Buyer Beware and this is why, if you are considering buying a property, you need to have a building survey carried out to find out if there are any problems within the property that you need to be aware of. Often estate agents will not advise you of these.

Dated Victorian property

In this case we carried out a survey on a dated Victorian property that had been modernised with double glazed windows (without trickle vents) and a basic central heating system added.

Trickle vent defined

Small vents to the windows to allow air movement inside the property to stop a build-up of fumes or humidity.

The client met the building surveyor at the property during the survey report. We recommend all our clients do this as it is great to meet you face to face to get a full understanding of exactly what the client requires from the survey and answer any questions they may have. We can also talk you through any issues, features and characteristics we find with the property. Our client was happy to walk with us around the property and even ventured into the roof space with us.

In this case we were able to point out features that had been in the property for many years such as the textured paint (commonly known as Artex) which can have an asbestos content.

Asbestos can sometimes be found in various places internally and externally within a property as you can see in our sketches below.

There was also a problem with dampness in the property to the floors caused by, amongst other things, a high ground level which could be improved by adding a French Drain around the property. What cannot be seen in a property such as this, and is another reason for having a Building Survey carried out, is that lack of air ventilation under the floor had caused wet rot to the floor which needed replacement. Dependent upon the extent of the wet rot this can be expensive.

Cement re-pointing had made the dampness worse

During the survey we noted that the outside of the property had been re-pointed in a cement mortar which was preventing the walls from breathing. A Victorian property would have originally been pointed in a breathable lime mortar.

We were able to advise the client that the cement mortar should be removed and then re-pointed with lime mortar.

Old properties need to breathe

Tricks of the trade

The Surveyor can also advise on various tricks of the trade during the survey (especially if they have been involved in renovation projects themselves) such as leaving existing wallpaper on the walls, in some cases, and hanging lining paper over it and in other cases understanding and recognising that the plaster has deteriorated and needs replacing.

In this case the client was interested in obtaining and adding original Victorian features to the property and we were able to recommend a reclamation park where they can provide everything including ironmongery, doors, windows and fireplaces.

We can email you examples of our building surveys

If you are thinking of buying a property and are interested in having a Structural Survey carried out or if you are trying to sell a property and would like a Pre-Sales Survey please call us on free phone us for a friendly chat on 0800 298 5424. We would be happy to email you several examples of our tailor made reports.