Not all property valuations are the same. An estate agent’s opinion of value is a commercial estimate. A mortgage valuation is a lender’s risk assessment. A RICS Red Book valuation

Most buyers know they need a survey. Fewer know which one. The RICS Level 2 Homebuyer Report and the RICS Level 3 Building Survey are both professional assessments carried out

Most buyers of London flats assume the mortgage valuation is enough. It isn’t. A mortgage valuation tells the lender whether the property is suitable security for the loan. It doesn’t

Choosing a surveyor is one of the few decisions in a property purchase that can genuinely affect the outcome. Get it right and you go into exchange with a clear

If you’re buying a flat in London, you’ve almost certainly come across both terms. Leasehold. Share of freehold. They get used interchangeably in listings, thrown around in solicitor letters, and

If you’ve been researching surveys for an older or more complex property, you’ve probably seen both terms in front of you: full structural survey and Level 3 building survey. They

If you’re buying an older property, a converted building, or anything with a complicated history, a Level 3 building survey is the most thorough assessment available to you. It’s the

Buying a flat is the most common first property purchase in London, and a survey is one of the most commonly skipped steps in the process. The reasoning buyers give

When you’re buying a property and start looking into surveys, you’ll likely come across two versions of the RICS Level 2 assessment: the standard survey, and the survey with valuation

London is a city of older buildings. Victorian terraces, Edwardian semis, 1930s suburban houses and converted period flats all make up a substantial proportion of the properties that change hands

Yes, you can negotiate after a homebuyer report. In fact, it’s one of the most common and legitimate uses of a survey. Your offer isn’t legally binding until contracts are

Getting a survey back with a long list of findings can feel unsettling. It shouldn’t. Problem-free surveys are rare, particularly on older properties, and the presence of issues in the

The short answer is yes. But buyers deserve more than a short answer when they’re spending several hundred pounds on top of a property purchase that already stretches most budgets

Most people focus on booking the survey. Far fewer think about what happens before the surveyor arrives, and that gap can cost both buyers and sellers more than they expect.

Buying a property without a survey is one of the most common and costly mistakes a buyer can make. Yet even buyers who commission a survey often have only a

Most buyers know they should get a survey. Far fewer know which survey is right for the property they’re buying. It’s one of the most common questions we hear at

Getting your offer accepted feels like the biggest hurdle, and in many ways it is. But in the buying a house process UK 2026, the 8 to 12 weeks between

If you are buying a property in London, the type of ownership you are buying matters as much as the property itself. Most buyers understand that houses are freehold and

Most buyers book a survey the same way they book a cab. Find the first option, check the price, confirm it. Job done. That works fine for getting across town.

When someone dies and leaves property as part of their estate, one of the first practical tasks falls to the executor: establishing what that property is worth. Get this right

If you bought your home through the Help to Buy equity loan scheme and you are approaching year five, or you have already hit year six, there is a good

Harrow Hive FC have won the Kane Cup, beating their opponents 4-1 in what turned out to be a thoroughly deserved victory. As the club’s sponsors, we wanted to mark