Posts Tagged ‘Xxxx’

When it comes to selling your home privately you stand to gain a lot of money by way of saved costs. But, just how easy is it?

A sell (selling by “private treaty”) is, on the one hand, perfectly feasible if:-

1. you simply sell to a relative or to your neighbour without any advertising or marketing. Your have not “marketed your home” and the Law and how House selling regulations are interpreted says this is a private transaction. It could easily be considered a “marketed sale” if you depart from strict guidelines – do you know all the in’s and out’s of such Regulations?
   
2. If it is a genuine private sell without marketing then you would not need a Home Information Pack (the HIP with Energy Performance Certificate – the EPC).
3. and you avoid all the hassle of advertising and have people trample through your private space – your home – your pride and joy.
4. You also avoid Estate Agents with sharp suits and smooth tongues. What price for this?
   

On the other hand:-

1. Are you sure you are not under-selling your home?
2. Have you considered the possible benefit to value if you first did certain repairs? Are you sure you know who to ask for this advice? Spend £500 on XXXX and you might ask for twice as much as added to the house value!
3. Do you know how to vet your buyers to ensure they are serious and aren’t going to cause problems “later”.
4. Are you sure you have infringed the law and property regulations and may get a Penalty Notice served on you at any moment?

Balancing these competing forces will tell you which way to go but do think seriously about it.

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Selling your house privately? What are you saving?

Save 1.5% commission = £1,500 plus vat (per £100,000 of house value)

Save your HIP cost = £400 with partial vat

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The only problem you have is the unknown…….

If you are truly knowledgeable then you are saving real money and the consequences, if all goes wrong, will be minor.

If you are not fully knowledgeable and may need help if the going gets tough then you may just regret attempting to penny-pinch.

Perhaps getting the Estate Agents in to give “initial free advice” (without telling you may go private) is not such a bad thing?

Perhaps getting PROinspect in to talk about value and disrepairs, and the effect of doing repairs – effect on value – also isn’t so silly?

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A third Way?

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Nowadays nothing is new. Starting to string up are PROPERTY BROKERS: often these are internet based, but not always.

Website services exists for simply listing your home are available for sales – this means you will need the good old HIP but the fee for this limited brokerage service will be much smaller than a full Estate Agents commission.

Certain Brokers mix internet service with limited marketing and other actions. Again these will save you a large sum.

The secret here is to correctly match what your home needs to dispose of it to those services that are available to you. Why not invite a fee quotation from a (1) traditional Estate Agent, a (2) “partial” Agent/Broker and (3) a full internet Broker service whereby no visits to your home are made at all (sometimes with the exception of a professional Photographer)? You could then assess the value that each brings to the table and match that with what you believe your home needs to get it sold.

For example – if your home is modern and on a large estate (is similar to most other homes and many have sold recently or are on the market) then provided it is in reasonable order then you may not need the full services offered by a traditional Estate Agent.

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A final two thoughts – (1) what about home swaps? Google house-swaps and see. PROinspect would immediately mention that if you go down this route then a private survey would be essential for self-protection purposes: (2) what about selling quickly to an Investor? Various organisations will buy your home “upon request” where an offer can be provided without a full viewing: the latter may be required as you are seeking to avoid an imminent repossession or you simply need the equity in your home quickly – no fees but perhaps you will not get full market value (in some cases nothing even ner to full value). Google sites like National Home Buyers to see how such schemes may work for you.

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A Footnote — I have recently been involved with Estate Agents in the disposal of my Parents home closeby. A long chain developed but we priced the house to sell and found a home to buy quickly. When chain problems cut in, and they often do, our own Agent acted with great authority and rapidity and circumvented several problems before they got out of hand. I have been very impressed with the professionalism shown (and suspect some Agents would not have been so helpful). We have not yet exchanged but are confident we will.

I must state that my Parents just could not cope with self-selling their own home and needed full Agency services: even though I could sell my own home I would normally request full Agency services because I am a busy person and just could not find the time to do all that a modern Agent has to. This is not a choice but a necessity.

Dampness in buildings

The problem Surveyors have is this – to determine the exact cause of damp often the precise history of the problem must be known and an occupier usually didn’t know of the problem when they first moved in and so paints the problem as being new.

The problem home owners and tenants have is that they couldn’t care less about the Surveyors problems and force a one-stop full solution as soon as possible. See my ADVICE ON DAMP post on this subject (elsewhere of this site) and the various types of repair solution available.

Put these two problems together and what you get is commercial pressure on Surveyors and Dampness Contractors to shoe-horn one standard solution into nearly all reported dampness problems – “it will cost you £XXX to chemically inject the walls and, by the way, your wall plaster is contaminated and essential  replastering will cost you £XXXX: Now, what’s the problem?”

The good Contractors and Surveyors saw the light many years ago and get tough with pushy clients but the down side is that investigative costs escalate, albeit those costs may considerably reduce your repair cost spend.

One person on this planet has led a revolution in the diagnosis of Dampness and anybody seriously interested in the subject should always hear him out. Therefore, here is a LINK to his web-site = http://www.buildingpathology.net/homeTruths.asp

His name is Mike Parrett and his Building Pathology and Home Truths advice is very well respected. What he is saying is “look beyond the obvious for the correct diagnosis and design of a solution to dampness”.

I must straight away report that Mike may have the same surname as me, and he might be related, but as far as I am aware we have never met and if we are related it is very distant (but our desire to improve House Survey Reportng standards is identical – perhaps in runs in Parrett blood?).

Back to the subject of dampness…….

Once rising damp has been correctly diagnosed (and I refer you do the Condensation TAB for extended comment and resource data for that form of dampness) what happens next?

Your dampness problem must first be defined: often the causes of damp are several and the sorting out process is difficult because one source of damp is lying over another. In a chimney flue or fireplace condensate from fuel combustion, ordinary condensation, falling penetrating dampness might mingle with rising dampness. In this example, what is more important, quickly rectifying “the damp” so as to prevent ground floor rot developing at even higher repair cost budgets or getting the correct apportionment of the problems within the diagnosis?

As a Consultant do I go for immediate client benefit to the problem or slow down and spend more clients money on chemical analysis of the contaminated plaster, employ contractors to further open up the structure so I can take more dampness readings and observations etc…..

Chicken and Egg is an expression that comes to mind here. To be professional or effective? Given time and money I would like to be both but in many cases I have to attempt to explain “all this” to the non-understanding-client and ask for guidance on which direction to take.

So we have got past the diagnosis stage and are about to repair the damp. What can you expect? Let’s take a common example – partial dampness to a ground floor fireplace and both side walls:-

(I recently dealt with this case – a case where a Specialist got his diagnosis wrong and two years later the home owner has the same dampness back again but in the meantime the Specialist has gone bust and the guarantees they issued are worthless).

The symptoms – wall-base plaster slightly blistered; décor darken and slightly flaked; high dampness moisture meter readings at low height on the wall but none in the timber flooring and skirtingboards (highest readings in the fireplace itself – which has not been used for many years but remains ventilated).

The problems – (1) a Specialist came in and said “failure of the damp proof course (dpc)” and ground water is rising up the wall and (2) bringing with it salts that contaminate the wall plaster. (3) These salts stay in the plaster and extract further moisture from the air we breathe”.

The initial suggested solution – (1) hack off the wall plaster to the affected walls up to 1.2m height (after this gravity prevents water climbing higher) (2) drill wall-base holes to take injected silicone that will solidify and stop water rising in the wall (3) replaster the wall to an exact specification.

Two years later (now) the situation is – exactly the same profile of dampness as stated above.

What has gone wrong?

Put simply, the Specialist got it wrong to start with and home owner made another fatal error.

On cost grounds the home owner decided to have the replastering works completed by a local Builder and not the Specialists, the former were much cheaper. The builder was not experienced and the specification was wrong thus invalidating the guarantee (despite, in this case, the guarantee being redundant because the contractor went bust and the client did not take out a FURTHER COST Insurance Backed Option Guarantee).

The error the Specialist made was simply assuming the dampness was mainly or solely from a failed dpc.

Put the two errors together and the result was inevitable: at some time the pressure of ground water salts and exhaust combustion residue will ultimately soak through the plaster. Unfortunately the style of that penetration looks exactly like rising damp and so a real danger exists that another Specialist Contractor could come in and do the exact same works this repeating the cycle.

In this particular case PROinspect used thermal imaging techniques which together with our experience meant that the client got a solution quickly (£600 plus our own fees and the cost of subsequent restoration of decorations).

For completeness – we removed the wall plaster, allowed the exposed masonry to dry out, removed as much residue as possible, checked for and completed minor re-injection of silicone, provided a salt inhibitor slurry to the walls and then replastered correctly.

Whilst on-site we also surveyed for (1) chimney stack problems that could be causing falling penetrating damp, (2) plumbing leaks, (3) lifted lower floorboards to see of the problem damp had caused flooring decay, (4) checked for adequate sub-floor-ventilation air circulation.

So, when the Mortgage Valuation report says your new home has damp and a Specialist Report is needed, do think hard before you reach for the phone.

For those who still need for data, here are a selection of web-sites that may be of use to you:-

A Company who have high diagnostic skills and who we use often is http://www.insitegroup.co.uk/

Like Mike Parrett, Tim Hutton is also a master – http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/risingdamp/risingdamp.htm

For basic data but also some cool download materials check out this site http://www.safeguardeurope.com/applications/rising_damp.php

One good solution to Condensation and general dampness is to provide a Positive Pressure Ventilation system or install Humidivent intelligent extractor/blowers: see such sites as these for more details – look at these solutions as an improvement to control the problems rather curing the problems:- http://www.petercox.com/services/condensation.html and this one for a PDF version of technical data for an AIRFLOW system (sorry about the long address) – http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=humidivents&btnG=Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=

And finally, Period Buildings are a completely new and different challenge and usually must not be treated in the same manner as more modern buildings. The following site breaks you into a differing mindset – http://www.spab.org.uk/advice/technical-qas/technical-qa-20-rising-damp/

PROPERTY CONSULTANTS for

EXPERT WITNESS or LITIGATION REPORTS

1. Can you help me? I need a chat for general advice.
2. Can you report on XXXX to tell me if I am right and may need to sue my Builder, previous Surveyor, Valuer, Solicitor, etc…..?
3. We need a pre-part-35 CPR Report.
4. We need a part-35-CPR Single Expert Witness Report (or as a Single, Joint Expert appointment).

All of these things are different: 1 is a chat and no inspection; 2 is a survey that may lead to a provisional conclusion (but, if the case moves into the hands of Solicitors or goes to Court then your initial report will not be suitable and will need to be upgraded and altered very significantly).

Item 3 provides us with the greatest problem in “how to advise a customer”. This is because Solicitors cannot agree what common format and when such a report is needed. The problem is that such reports may lead nowhere, in which case they are best short and at low cost, whereas if they do lead into Court then they need to be capable of being upgraded to the required format and style.

Item 4 above reports that are formal, highly regulated and should only be generated by professionals trained in such matters and how are true masters of their trade: very few exist and you appoint such an Expert at your peril as they can turn a case (in either direction, for you, or against you).

An Expert Witness part-35 Civil Proceedings Rules Report must be addressed to the Court. Although you may commission it and pay for it the Expert is under a duty to report as if the Judge/Court has appointed him/her.

Such reports are complex and long and therefore expensive. Not only is all evidence to be obtained and shifted but the Expert must explain his findings and justify his conclusions. The structure of the report is regulated and a Truth Statement and other Sign-off Statements make it clear that the Expert is under a weighty duty of care to include all data and not to be unduly influenced by either party to the dispute. Strict Protocols surround all aspects of the Expert appointment, report generation and delivery of evidence.

PROinspect suggest that all customers how consider that grounds for potential litigations should first be discussed with their Solicitors BEFORE speaking to us. We have seen cases where the customer has been given the wrong initial advice and this has resulted in the cost of producing relevant Expert evidence, in the right format, being very high indeed.

Our Stuart Parrett is a member of the Academy of Experts, is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He has Courtroom experience and has completed training courses in part-35-CPR Report writing and the giving of evidence in Court. For residential property matters – building disputes, contractor problems, surveyor and valuer negligence and other related matters, Stuart is considered to a be a safe pair of hands as Single/Joint Expert appointment.

Cases completed by Stuart have included:-

• Tenants failure to maintain:
• Surveyor failure to identify large quantities of hazardous material:
• Misrepresentation by a Seller of a house:
• Surveyor negligence when completing most forms of house survey product:
• Loan Valuer over-valuation cases:
• To establish where dry-rot had spread from, and why:
• Inadequate reporting standards within level 2 Homebuyer Report formats:
• Failure of a Local Authority to maintain a flat:
• Personal injury case – valuation matters to establish the lifetime effect on property decisions:
• Building damage due to works being completed in the adjoining property.

IF YOU HAVE VISITED THIS SITE TO FIND OUT THE PEDIGREE OF STUART PARRETT THE FOLLOWING MAY ALSO INTEREST YOU:-

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Summary of the experience of Stuart Parrett (a provisional CV):-

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NAME STUART KEVIN PARRETT FRICS, MAE, dipHI

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Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Practicing member of the Academy of Experts.

Registered Home Inspector & Domestic Energy Assessor.

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D.O.B. Male 12‑02‑56.

Nationality British.

Marital status Married to Penny – 2 adult children.

Professional Qualifications and Awards

19/11/80 (Professional Associate) and

13/5/87 Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Membership No. 0057808).

12/2/96 Membership of The Academy of Experts (Membership Ref : PM1490).

2001 “Accredited” by SAVA – Surveyors and Valuers Accreditation Ltd; for Level 2 and 3 Surveys.

(Membership Ref : 0001182)

Home Inspector and Domestic Energy Assessor award by ABBE in 2007/08.

Employment Residential markets Private Practice

[1] Messrs Hall Pain & Foster, Fareham, Portsmouth, Havant,  Waterlooville. 1976 ‑ 80. Trainee Surveyor

[2] Messrs Young & White, Portsmouth. 1980 ‑ 1989. Surveyor, Senior Home Sur­veyor, Associate Partner, Equity Partner including at time of disposal of business to Cornerstone (Abbey National Estate Agents) in 1988. Eight offices inc. Portsmouth, Winchester to Southampton.

[3] 1989 to 01/03/03 : Self-employed trade styles :

Chandlers Professional and Proinspect (Home Inspector and Chartered Surveyor training). Consultant to the John Byrne Survey Centre (Wickham).

[4] 2003 to July 2008 :  Rund Partnership Ltd (Chartered Building Surveyors) Eastleigh – Director; shareholder, senior residential property Surveyor/Valuer and staff trainer.

[5] August 2008 onwards – self-employed as PROinspect Consultancy. Private sector house surveying, valuing, energy assessing, defect diagnostics, Expert Witness reports, Thermal Imaging Consultants.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Summary

Long track record of working on own initiative.

Intuitive inspection and deduction/interpretation skills.

Excellent communication and report writing skills.

Highly focused and experienced in residential housing surveys.

Independent thinker.

Details/examples

Residential property market. Full Building surveys (L3), RICS Homebuyer Surveys (L2), Valuations (L1) for all purposes (valuation range predominantly up-to-£1,500,000).

Usual range of other professional work from Grant Applications (80’s), project co‑ordination plus extensive Expert Witness and other Litigation reports for Solicitor clients (with attendant Court appearances). Large amount of client Company house Part‑Exchange scheme surveying involvement. Usual random tasks such as Compulsory Purchase Acquisition claims/negotiations, Local Authority “Right to Buy” scheme negotiations, etc…

Early 1992 Inland Revenue contract work to prepare residential Council Tax Valuation Bandings in south Hampshire.

Within the practice of Young & White I was senior residential (Partner) surveyor/Valuer. This called for Practice development expertise i.e. negotiation with mortgage Lenders regarding valuation panel membership and fee scales; co‑ordinating efforts and marketing to enter new markets, producing and updating Conditions of Engagement, dealing with staff negligence cases and annual employment reviews etc….

The 1990’s, and now the new century, saw great growth in Litigation Reports required due to claims alleging professional negligence. My experience and highly active role within the profession has allowed me to specialise in this area (Expert Witness Reports).

In 2002 I have set up a subscription based internet Home Inspector Resource facility (proinspect.co.uk). To facilitate Home Information Packs plus Energy Performance Certificates this infrastructure was upgraded to PROinspect Network Portal in 2005. This has now evolved into a 2008 new business that focuses on the surveyor and general assessment of residential property.

Throughout 2002 to 2007 I helped devised both (1) National Occupational Standards for Government licensed Home Inspectors and (2) the external test/examination that all such candidates will have to take. This has led to major professional services Consultancies with the two main Home Inspector Assessment Centres in England, RICS and SAVA.

1997 to date

Seminar speaker to Chartered Surveyors and others on behalf of

• the RICS (nationally, regionally and locally) inc. as “Safe As…”
• Portsmouth University CPD Unit
• SAVA Ltd
• PROinspect.co.uk
• Legal & General Surveying Services Ltd
• CIOB
• Rund Partnership Ltd.
• BNI networking UK.

Typical subjects

• Homebuyer Survey & Valuation scheme
• Expert Witness Reports
• “How to Understand Home Surveys” – to Solicitors at in-house training sessions
• SAVA competence/assessment days
• Survey Standards, Report Writing, Accreditation, new Home Condition Report
• Surveying new buildings, surveying Services, etc….
• General Valuation issues
• Effective Report Writing
• The Art of being a Residential Surveyor
• The 2009 all-new R.I.C.S. Homebuyer Report and the NEED FOR CHANGE.
• Site Notes and the DEA
• Maximising Income as a DEA
• An Overview of Surveying Housing.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

1989 to date

IT and keyboard skills attained – Microsoft Word, Publisher, Outlook, Powerpoint.

Public Speaking, Mentoring Younger Surveyors and Practices, etc…

1985 to 1992

Committee member Portsmouth District Estate Agents/Surveyors Association.

1987/88 Chairman.

1991/2 and 1995/6

Chairman of Wessex Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors General Practice Division.

Committee member 1988 to 2001.

1992 to mid-2000

Member of a small team who operated a monthly Chartered Surveyors clinic at the Eastleigh offices of the Citizens Advice Bureau.

1994 to date

Member of Southampton Property Association.

1994 to 12/2000.

Wessex GP Division “Representative” to RICS GP Divisional Council. 1997 to 2000 elected to the Executive Board of the GP Division.

1999 to mid 2001

R.I.C.S. Wessex Branch Representative to General Council.

1994 to early 1999

Member of the RICS Small Practices Support Group.

1993/95

Inaugural Chairman of the Independent Surveyors Association. Created to fight “mortgage valuation placement” monopoly problems and to improve survey standards.

1997 to late 1998

Committee member of the then new Wessex Branch GP Division “CPD” Club for training purposes. This involved organising all aspects of course seminars.

1998 to 2002

Member of RICS Insurance Working Group.

1999 to 2005

Committee member of SAVA Benchmarking & Training Panel.

Consultant to SAVA Assessment Centre.

Accreditation Manager and conference leader.

2000 to 2001

Wessex RICS Branch chairman

2000 to 2002

Member of RICS South-East Regional Board.

2004

Business Management and H.I. Roadshow Consultant for RICS Safe As…. Home Inspector Assessment Centre.

2004 -2007

Working Group of A.B.B.E. (in Birmingham) regarding implementation of Home Inspector regulations, advising upon National Occupational Standards for Home Inspectors, advising on training requirements and the delivery/type of “external” test for Home Inspectors (together with populating the examination question database).

2001 – 2007 Appointments:-

• SAVA Accreditation Application Assessor for L2 and L3 grades.
• SAVA level-2 (HSV/HCR….) Workshop seminar facilitator / speaker.
• Training Consultant and Home Inspector candidate Assessor for SAVA Home Inspector Assessment Centre.
• RICS Professional Indemnity Insurance Working Group.