Residential Surveying

Curchod & Co’s Chartered Surveyors are experienced in the local housing market. Our RICS Registered Valuer will provide an impartial professional opinion.

We will require to briefly view the house or flat so we can understand it’s general size, quality and location, but this is not a survey. We then appraise the property against comparable information from other homes that have recently sold making appropriate allowances. A short report summarises the matters we consider to affect the value. We are always happy to discuss and justify our opinion.

Market valuations of residential property are often required for matters such as:

• Inheritance Tax (Probate)
• Marital disputes and settlement (divorce)
• Asset management
• Litigation

Our valuations follow the RICS Valuation – Global Standards 2017 criteria, often referred to as the Red Book. It provides an opinion of value for which the property would have been sold between a willing buyer and willing seller. It does not consider any special interest or conditional offers, but must reflect development potential if buyers would proceed unconditionally. The market value should not be confused with an estate agency asking price.

It is important to ensure you have adequate insurance cover in case your home is damaged or destroyed by fire, flood, storm, subsidence or other peril. If your property is underinsured, you may not be fully compensated if you need to claim. If you declare too high an insurance value, you may be paying unneeded premiums. Many website calculators will not include all the factors necessary for an accurate rebuilding cost assessment.

Curchod & Co will visit your property to understand it’s general size, standards of construction, quality of fittings such as kitchen and bathrooms. We consider issues that might affect building costs such as difficult site access. We use Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) data, also used by the Association of British Insurers which we adjust to reflect your specific property.

Overview:

• An assessment of the rebuild cost for use with building insurance policies.
• For houses, bungalows, individual flats, or blocks of flats and maisonettes.
• The sum insured will often be quite different to the market value for sale.
• A complete loss and rebuild of the property to a modern equivalent is assumed.
• Generally allows for demolition of remains, reconstruction and professional fees.
• Allows for the main building structure fabric and fittings but excludes contents.
• Garages, outbuildings, common parts, hard landscaping, garden walls and fences should be included.
• Listed and unusual buildings need special consideration as standard cost data might not be appropriate.
• A reassessment is recommended every few years as Index linked policies may not reflect local trends and all changes in standards.
• Extensions and alterations to properties will affect the rebuilding cost

Many flats, and a few houses, are owned by a lease which will eventually expire. As the term becomes shorter the owner will see a drop in their property’s value. This situation is reversible, but can be costly. Curchod & Co are experienced in valuing the premiums payable to the landlord, by the leaseholder. We can assist with negotiations on the values between landlord and tenant, and encourage a settlement, although we have made representations at Tribunal.

Legislation including the Leasehold Reform, Housing & Urban Development Act 1993 and the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, together with Tribunal and some Court rulings, provides a basis for the extension of leases, or a freehold purchase. Lease extensions on flats normally add 90 years to the existing unexpired lease, reducing the ground rent to zero. The flat must have been owned for at least 2 years. For enfranchisement there are many rules including that there must be at least 2 flats, at least 50% of leaseholders must participate each of whom may own no more than 2 flats no more than 25% of the floor area can be non-residential (shops and offices), the freeholder cannot be a resident of a properties with less than five flats that were converted by that freeholder.

Overview:

• Valuation of the premium payable to extend the leasehold interest in a residential property.
• Assessment of the enfranchisement premium where a leaseholders of a block of flats wish to collectively purchase the freehold.
• Professional advice for leaseholder (tenant) or freeholder (lessee/landlord).
• Shorter leases have a lesser value and the premiums will be higher.
• Premiums compensate the landlord for the loss of future ground rent income.
• Premiums compensate the lessee for their deferred ownership, or their being forced to sell the freehold.
• Leases of less than 80 years will be subject to marriage value (50% of the difference between the original short lease and the extended lease ownership market values). This can be considerable.
• Leases of less than 70 years can be difficult to mortgage and to sell