Building Surveys - Commercial
Whether you are buying, selling or simply managing your property a building survey will bring to light any problems or risks associated with your private or commercial property. As members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors you can rest assured that your building survey conducted by our qualified surveyors will be comprehensive, accurate and cost effective.
When Should I Commission A Building Survey?
There are many occasions when a building survey/condition survey may be needed:
Buying a Property
‘Caveat emptor' - Let the buyer beware!
If you are buying property, a new home or business premises, a survey is absolutely essential. It can bring to light any problems, both major and minor, with the condition of the property. The report will ensure that there won't be any nasty or expensive surprises once the sale has gone through.
Some issues raised within a survey report will give the buyer the information required to make the decision if the sale should proceed, prior to exchanging contracts. Alternatively, the residential survey report information will give the buyer grounds to negotiate the purchase price.
A home or premises is likely be the biggest purchase an individual or company will ever make. If they were buying vehicles or machines a purchaser would undertake research or instruct a specialist to inspect. So if you are purchasing a property 10 times that size or much more wouldn't you call in the experts?
Leasing a property
If you are committing to a lease of a property for business purposes it is good to go into that contract with your eyes wide open. Companies are often thinking about now and not further along the term of the lease they are signing up to. A condition survey prior to signing the lease contract can protect your company from excessive dilapidation claims at either the end of a lease. A condition survey will record a snap shot of the condition of the property and can limit the size of a claim later. It is however essential that the condition report is tied legally into the lease and is of sufficient detail to be of use 5, 10 or 25 years on.
Property Maintenance
It is always helpful to know the condition of your property especially if you are planning renovations or development work. A condition report can help identify problems now that could become expensive issues in the future. Issues arising during renovations can prove costly.
Issues such as damp may also be wrongly diagnosed and result in work being undertaken unnecessarily and a heavy cost to the client.
Selling a Property
To be forewarned is to be forearmed and commissioning a building survey prior to putting your property on the market will highlight any areas of concern that may reduce the value of the building in the eyes of potential buyers.
Thank you so much for the survey. We are very pleased with it. Delaney Marling Partnership told exactly what we needed to know, and in great detail. The photos taken of ‘hard to reach places’ were extremely helpful! I can totally recommend Delaney Marling Partnership
Lindsay HartleyELK Marketing & Planning LtdDelaney Marling Partnership carried out a photographic and written Schedule of Condition for Vuba before we rented our new unit. They did a great job, saving us a lot of time and money with their careful observations
Sean ScottVuba Supplies
A condition survey completed early enough in negotiations for a new lease can give the lessee sufficient information and advice for them to be able to negotiate rent free periods, Landlords works prior to commencement or even the terms of the lease. An example of this would be reducing the lessees' liability from Full Repairing & Insuring (FRI) to Internal Repairing Lease. Defects to roofs/windows or historic/latent defects can and have given grounds for a reduced tenants' liability, level of rent and claim for dilapidations.
The building/condition survey and report is a comprehensive report the can sometimes be known as structural survey and gives highly detailed information about the property and its structural condition. This survey can be particularly useful if the building is older or there are particular issues that are of a worry to a buyer/lessee. A building survey is also essential if you are planning development or major improvement work on a building.
There are a plethora of alternative standard survey types especially when purchasing residential property. These are ideal for newer residential properties that were constructed under the control of the local authority or NHBC or similar schemes
It can be difficult to know exactly which survey is best suited to your particular circumstances so please feel free to contact us for further information and advice.