The new home survey standard https://www.rics.org/profession-standards/rics-standards-and-guidance/sector-standards/building-surveying-standards/home-surveys/home-survey-standards is a framework that sets out the minimum standards that surveyors must meet when carrying out home surveys. Covering a wide range of topics, including the condition of the property, the presence of any defects, and the potential for any future problems. Designed to give buyers peace of mind […]

Hedges Hedges can provide great natural boundaries for properties. They provide habitat for wildlife. They have no planning permission requirements. So these are good ways of screening when higher boundaries are required. But there are good neighbour and various case laws surrounding this and it is very complex. When forming a new boundary, hedges do […]

As part of our boundary series, we will look at the various sorts of fencing. Fencing is something often overlooked during the purchase process. If it has been overlooked then with the current timber prices this will be an expensive oversight. We tend to do a very complicated test on fencing. This simply involves leaning […]

During our surveys we comment on the condition of boundary walls. This is normally overlooked by our clients during the average brief viewing time of less than 15 minutes. Rebuilding external boundary walls is very expensive. The only time a condition of a boundary wall is normally noted is when it fails. We often see […]

Historic buildings often had open roof structures with no party walls in the loft spaces nor above the roof lines. If a fire did happen in a property on a terrace. It spread through properties very quickly. As a result, party walls in the loft space became more normal and the raised parapet became common […]