Why Do I Need To Have a Survey?

The only way to reach an informed decision on such an important investment as a new home or business premises is to have a professional Building Survey carried out on the property. By doing this before you decide to go ahead and commit yourself, can help minimize the risk and cost of repair works.

One of the most common short-cuts is skimping on the Building Survey. Both buyers and tenants tend to rely on the information provided by the valuers, the seller or by the letting agent when deciding whether or not to purchase or lease a property.

This action, in a fairly new property is probably acceptable, however when it comes to an older property, a property of an unusual construction or a property that you intent to enervate or alter/extend this is a big gamble and UK Surveyors Ltd would never advise this course of action.

Spending extra money on a Building Survey may seem a wasted expense when you are about to take on a property, however when you consider how much money it could save you in the long run it is money well spent. Remember a Professional Independent Surveyors Report can be used to negotiate with the seller or Landlord.

You could purchase or lease a property without instructing a Building Survey to be carried out, then later discover that the entire roof needs restructuring, the repair for this would then cost you thousands. Once the contracts have been signed and exchanged the landlord or vendor is no longer liable for that property or repairs; YOU ARE!

A Building Survey is the best report to open your eyes to all potential or actual problems in your new premises. Our Building Surveys are an in depth report on all areas within the property reporting on all major and minor defects, it looks at the property from top to bottom, inside and out. Within the report you will be advised on any areas that concern our Surveyor, why they feel there is a problem and in most instances what they feel needs to be done in order to rectify them.

At UK Surveyors Ltd you are able to ask the Surveyor who carried out your survey to advise you on specific areas of concern or perhaps alterations or extensions that you may be considering within the Survey.

To do without the services of a Building Surveyor may well prove to be a false economy; it could easily save you money if faults are revealed which enable you to renegotiate a price reduction with the landlord or seller, if the property is poor value for money or requires substantial repair and maintenance, it may prevent you from making a serious financial mistake.

Commissioning your own survey is the simple, economical way to avoid unpleasant and perhaps costly surprises after moving in and should be viewed as an investment.

Thinking of taking on a commercial lease?

When you have a copy of the lease for a new property you will see that there are a number of clauses that will need to be adhered to. Within the lease there will be clauses relating to the repairs works and redecoration of the property, these are very important as they can cost you money.

As tenant, usually you will be responsible for all of the internal and external decorations within a set out period of time and you may also find that you are responsible for all repair works; this obligation will be from the moment that you sign the lease.

In the case of a property that is in need of repair prior to you entering the lease you should be very careful. If you are taking on a leased property, it is advisable that you should have a Full Condition Survey carried out first before you sign the lease.

The purpose of a Condition Survey is to record the current condition of a property before entering into a lease agreement, a Dilapidation Survey is carried out to confirm that all of the maintenance works, set out in the lease have been adhered to, and both are a detailed room by room and assessment.

The Key Benefits of the Condition Survey are that it can be used to renegotiate maintenance clauses within the lease and it offers added cover to the tenant, it is advisable that tenant’s should requests a Condition Survey upon entering a lease agreement, this will help avoid disputes at the end of the agreement.

Once completed, the commissioner of the survey will know the exact condition of the property at that period in time.

If you take on a property that is in a poor condition and within the lease it states, that the property is to be kept in repair, and you have not negotiated for this to be amended you will still be liable for all of the repairs.

This does appear to be unfair, however unless agreed by both parties, the condition of the property when you took on the lease is irrelevant; you will still have to put all of the repairs right.

When entering into a lease for a property, if you have a Condition Survey carried out, you should ask the landlord for a copy of this survey to be attached to the lease. This will ensure that you don’t have to pay for any repair works that were present on the property at the time you took on the lease, by doing this you should ensure that you are getting a fair deal.

It is always vital to have the premises surveyed by a qualified surveyor at the outset where they will be able to advise on the scale of liability that might be involved.