Posts Tagged ‘Neighbours’

This very much depends on what level of inspection is being completed and the complexity of the property.

A good Inspector we have risk and database researched your property before he/she arrives. This process should have raised various questions that will probably be added to the Inspectors normal list of standard queries.

Any Inspector will need to know the history of the land and buildings. This broadly splits into the following areas:-

• Tenure/Legal
• Planning and Building Control
• Limitations or special instructions (imposed upon or for the Inspector)
• Risks
• Documentation, Certificates and Service records
• DIY
• Insurance Claims
• Premises age and the dates of material changes/problems/events

So, the Inspector will not want to be bothered by your Pets/Dogs. Similarly young children may best be taken to neighbours/friends. A tidy environment is always easier the inspect than an untidy and unclean home.

The Inspector will want to get at and into all rooms and areas and so unlocking the garage, shed and side gate will all be appreciated. Moving the car off drainage inspection chambers is also a good idea; as would be taking the car out of the garage or car-port.

If you can take copies of important documents these will be invaluable to the Inspector but it is our experience he/she can just as easily take photographs of such documents.

So what questions and/or documents are important?

1. How old is the house?
2. Is it Listed (which Grade), in a Conservation Area or in a Smoke Control Area?
3. Are any Council Plans/Proposals known of that may affect the house or its plot?
4. Boiler age/installation and service/repair records.
5. Is mains Gas available and metered?
6. Are all other mains services connected and metered?
7. What private services are connected: do they pass to and from only public land OR do they pass over/under private land (and are they shared)?
8. Date of electrical system tests or of re-wiring/alterations.
9. Date of double glazing installation (FENSA certified or under Building Control?).
10. Planning Permissions and/or Building Regulation Approvals.
11. Who designed and constructed (and when) the Conservatory.
12. Lease details.
13. Any off-site buildings or parking facilities? Full details needed.
14. Do any off-site shared facilities
15. Management provisions, fees and charges + name and contacts details.
16. Tree Preservation Orders?
17. Trees removed: and when?
18. Have any Insurance Claims, Party Wall Act Notifications, Neighbour or Boundary Disputes happened – full details/outcomes needed.
19. Extensions and/or improvement or conversion plans, dates, descriptions.
20. Inserted insulation? Type, when and by whom?
21. Have the drains ever blocked, been repaired or renewed? Are any chamber covers hidden from view?
22. What works have YOU done, OR have been done by non-professional or non-specialists?
23. What fixtures and fittings form part of the purchase price and will be staying in the home when the sellers move out?
24. Which site boundaries do you believe to be yours?

Anything you can do to provide certainty to your answers would be invaluable to the Inspector. Remember that anything you can produce to help the Inspector here will probably go into his/her Report and both their client and that clients legal team will have one less thing to worry about – if you take the time and effort to fully cooperate here you are rewarded with less uncertainty at a later date.

Much of the above may be included in the Home Information Pack: at the time of writing these words it is our experience most Sellers, Solicitors and Estate Agents are not bothering to request these details are produced “up front” and so the existing marketing/legal system is not entering in to the spirit of HIPs: in our opinion this attitude is to the detriment of all home buying transactions.

ARCHIVE ARTICLE FROM NEW YEAR 2009:

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What is Value?

I got a new iPOD Touch for Christmas. 16GB. 3,500 songs 20 hours of video. It really is brilliant, stylish and both functional and user-friendly. How did I live and work without it?

Just before Christmas I also began to consider moving home again. My wife and I had seen another home that we both liked and it set our minds to thinking……….

One result was that I had a chat with a local Agent about our own home. That Agent naturally asked about what we were looking for. I thought for a moment and then realized this was difficult to express. Yes, we had a budget “top price” we could afford, we wanted something nice but after that I realized that I couldn’t give much more guidance. When we saw the right house it would shout at us. Why?

It’s a bit like the iPOD: we have basic needs at the practical level but above that and anything extra is a luxury; for us, it doesn’t really matter if it has only 4GB or 32GB, 2 bedrooms or 4. I could use my computer to upload daily selections of differing songs to my iPOD so why is it so important to have your entire library to choose from? Do I really need something that is not essential?

I love housing: I genuinely have a passion for inspecting for defects and then briefing the potential buyer (or seller). I have a passion for picking up the scent and being able to diagnose whether the evidence is serious or not. But, when it comes to my own home, provided I can relax without wind, rain and neighbours interfering with my life then I am happy. So, why must I have “detached” or “two spare bedrooms” or “three reception rooms” etc….. They are not essential.

What I am defining is that the value we all place on housing is different as we have differing needs, standards and aspirations. We assign differing values to all those components that make “a home”. What one may see as valuable may not be the same generally within the marketplace.

So…..when Valuers, Estate Agents and others are assessing your home for “market value’ what are they really assessing?

Professionally the answer is :  “market value” is the best price reasonably obtainable on an unconditional basis for cash consideration on the date of valuation (Report date if not specifically stated) assuming a willing seller; prior to the valuation date a reasonable period for proper marketing (to agree price and terms) and for the completion of the sale has elapsed; that the state of the market, level of values and other circumstances were, on any earlier assumed date of exchange of contracts, the same as on the date of valuation; that no account of any additional bid by a purchaser with a special interest be considered.

There may also be caveats about the Assessor assuming that the condition of the building is reasonable, that those areas not seen, covered or otherwise inaccessible are free from serious disrepair, that good title can be shown and there is nothing strange from a condition, legal or lease point-of-view: the list is endless.

But, at the end of the day please remember three things:-

(1)    that we all have differing needs, expectations and plans that come together in differing assessments of worth, plus

(2)    that history repeatedly tells us that Mortgage Lenders do not have the ability to accurately assess the true worth of any particular home or the credit-worthiness of any particular individual.

(3)    Although most of us are not bothering to study the HIP and Energy Performance Certificate upon our intended purchase we do so at our own peril in that 2009 may be the precursor year that sees energy costs (carbon footprints) begin to alter the established structure of house prices. To a small extent this process has already started but I am suggesting that a threshold will one day arrive after which poor energy performance seriously penalises the value of your investment.

The old adage is correct – Value is that sum an individual is prepared to pay. But, as most purchasers still buy with a mortgage, the availability of finance could increasingly define value – eg: if differential mortgage rates where introduced according to carbon-footprint assessments then those poorly performing homes would be hit hardest. You have been warned.

Value is therefore not something that can be religiously assessed in relation to comparables sales – so much “per bed-space” or “per metre floor area” etc……

Valuation is an Art, it is not a science –

The latter is a good means to achieve a guide price assessment only. Is this why Estate Agents are termed “Negotiators” rather than Valuers? It is not a function of qualifications but, instead, more akin to levels of experience; knowing how to assess an individuals needs and discovering what such a person is prepared to bid for a home that meets those needs in various disjointed or incomplete ways.

Therefore the best Valuers and Negotiators and those who can analyse the market most effectively but also analyse people the best. Mortgage finance terms and any other “influences” then distort those opinions.

I can give my opinion to a client but that client must then assess whether to ignore my advise, or not. If they do ignore it then what will be the cost of that override decision? Also remember we do not all act rationally, all the time. Provided an individual can assess property and market risks, and put up with all the nonsense thrown at them by Lenders who seek to tick boxes rather than assess the person individually, then all should be well at some point in the New Year as a new equilibrium establishes itself.

At some point common-sense must re-enter the marketplace. Sellers marketing at realistic prices and buyers’ Lenders assessing risks in a more practical, human manner rather than the tick-a-box route to insanity that prevailed for the majority of 2008.

Estate Agents have a major part to play here and Sellers need to trust their appointed Agents to get it right. Those that place a home on the market at inflated prices are doing us all a disservice, a matter than often rebounds badly; part of the 2008 spiral of loss-of-confidence.

I do hope this new equlibrium comes about sooner rather than later, for all our sakes.

ARCHIVE ARTICLE from OCT 2008

Planning a change without Planning?

October 2008 is the right time!

October 2008 is to herald many changes this year. You and your clients may need to revise action plans to reflect these alterations to the current status quo……..

Planning policies have been relaxed (see below) and all Residential Lettings will require an EPC. However, also all those homes still on the market for sale, but which did not qualify for EPCs, require an EPC. The seller will be under a duty to deliver to the purchaser a valid EPC before Exchange of Contracts. Do you and your clients know this?

The Planning change is that various forms of development will not require any Planning Consent:-

Extensions?

All single or two storey side or rear elevation extensions, up to 3.05m (10 feet) deep, are now exempt. Building Control Consent may be needed and, by the way, don’t upset the neighbours and you may need Party Wall Act notifications to those neighbours.

Loft Conversions?

Also loft conversions are affected. From October these will not need Planning Permission if they are less than 40 cubic metres (1,412 cubic feet) in volume in terrace homes, or 50 cubic metres (1,766 cubic feet) for detached and semi-detached homes.

Don’t forget that headroom height will need to be at least 2.3m to be a habitable room – this is an important consideration when it comes to maintaining or creating additional value in your home.

Driveways?

Another Planning change affects pavings. No permission will be needed to lay a driveway over 5m long, as long as it is laid with porous material such as gravel, permeable concrete block of porous asphalt. Before we all rush off to hard-surface that side/front area of land please consider water drainage and whether planning permission would be needed to create an access onto a highway.

Miscellaneous – freed from the need for Planning Permission:-

• Solar Panels (roof mounted or free standing).
• Replacing or maintaining a garage.
• Fences, walls and gates (under 1m high by a road and 2m elsewhere).
• Porches with a floor area of less than 3 sq. m.