What Does the Home Buyer Survey & Valuation Include?
The most popular form of pre-purchase Survey report in the UK, the RICS HBSV can only be prepared by fully paid up, appropriately qualified Chartered Surveyors who are RICS members. This ensures that your chosen property will only be inspected by and reported upon by Chartered Surveyors who meet the exacting standards of the RICS, including undergoing regular ongoing training and having professional indemnity insurance in place.
Inspection
In most cases, the inspection will take around one hour on site and includes all aspects of the property that can be seen with the naked eye, from chimneys down to ground level, especially walls, roof coverings, windows, doors etc on the outside, a “head-and-shoulders inspection of the loft space (only full inspection if safely boarded for walking on), internal walls, ceilings and fittings and includes a damp meter test. In most cases, it is not possible or practical to lift carpets or floor coverings to visually inspect floors but most floor defects can be found just by a detailed, careful walk over them, which is what occurs in the HBSV. We also provide our advice in respect of the condition of services, although we are not able to test electrics or gas. We also lift drain covers and check over permanent outbuildings such as garages.
The Report
The RICS expect us to write our reports in plain English, so that we don’t confuse the general public with lots of technical phrases that only other Surveyors would understand! Therefore, the report, usually around 50 pages long, includes our comments on the various elements and a condition grading system based on traffic lights. Green is good, amber will have a caution or minor works required and red is for urgent work or dangerous risks. At the end, as RICS Registered Valuers, we also include our advice on the property value. As Chartered Surveyors, any valuation advice has to be based on Market Evidence, not the seller’s wishlist value!
End Result
Hopefully, you move into the property with peace of mind that there are no nasty surprises waiting for you in your new home, or that you know that whilst there is work required on it, that you have not paid “over the odds” for it. Remember, only current members of the RICS can provide the HBSV format report and our prime responsibility is to you as our Client. After all, in most cases, your home is the most expensive purchase you will ever make and peace of mind costs as little from £400.00.
Open Market Valuation Report
Very brief external and internal inspection, recording only extremely significant defects (e.g. possible subsidence, roof issues or rising damp), with a valuation figure reflecting the likely value subject to any such defects.
Who Carries Out The Survey?
I, John Chappell, am the sole Surveyor employed by Chappell & Co. Surveyors Ltd. Therefore, I personally will carry out the inspection and prepare your survey report. I qualified as a residential Chartered Surveyor in 1992 whilst working in Skegness and therefore now have over 30 years’ professional experience of inspecting, reporting on and valuing properties on the Lincolnshire coast.
In keeping with the requirements of the RICS, I believe that it is important to give the right advice to you, buying what for most people is the biggest ever purchase they ever make. I am extremely lucky to have a job that I enjoy doing every day, serving you, our Clients and I hope to be able to help you in buying your dream home.
We cover an area from Wainfleet to Mablethorpe and Skegness inland to Spilsby & Alford etc.