Our Consultant Building Surveyor programme has been running for over a year now. With seven regional building surveyors now established on the programme we’ve collected below their various experiences so far and found out what they think of The Chawton Hill Way. We receive most of our enquiries for RICS Building Surveys from referrals. Having taken a look at the … Read More
Updating a John Nash Regency House
Designed by architect John Nash, and built in 1808, this Regency house is situated within a conservation area, so we had to approach the updating project with a simple overriding objective – our design had to ‘enhance and preserve the area’. The brief was to design internal alterations and external repairs to provide a new loft room and generally refurbish … Read More
Chawton Hill – what do you do then?
Actually quite a lot more than you might at first think when you hear Chawton Hill, Chartered Surveyors. The business is well into its late teens now, having been established in 2001 by Stephen Holmes and David Edwards, both Fellows of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Whilst Building Projects & Building Surveys neatly describes the two areas of our … Read More
RICS Rules of Conduct
We often refer to being bound by the RICS Rules of Conduct but what do they actually cover? Here we list the latest guide, effective form 25th April 2017, from RICS; Conduct of Business Professional behaviour A Firm shall at all times act with integrity and avoid conflicts of interest and avoid any actions or situations that are inconsistent with … Read More
Why Do I Need a Building Survey?
Our own Steve Holmes (FRICS) explains the benefits of a building survey. “It’s very easy not to see the ‘wood for the trees’ when we view a property for the first time. Not only do we have all the time pressures of the viewing, there is also the knowledge that there are now other willing buyers queuing up behind you … Read More
Community Building from Greenfield site
Community Building – East Wittering and Bracklesham Parish Council approached Chawton Hill Chartered Surveyors to design a new Youth and Community Building predominantly for use by the Girl Guides Movement, the UK’s leading charity for girls and young women. The brief for the Community Building included; a badminton/multipurpose Community Hall for recreational use a Youth Hall for use by the Girl … Read More
Condition Data Collection
The Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) launched their Condition Data Collection (CDC) programme in early 2017 setting it to run through to Autumn 2019 in five, separate tranches. The CDC is one of the biggest condition data collection exercises in the UK public sector. The aim is to visit every government maintained school in England to collect data about … Read More
The ‘family GP’ for your Church
What are Quinquennial Inspection Reports? Under the Inspection of Churches Measure 1955, as amended by the Care of Churches and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1991, all consecrated buildings of the Church of England must by law be inspected once in every five years by a registered architect or chartered building surveyor (the ‘Quinquennial Inspector’ or QI) who is approved by the … Read More
Trail of Suspicion
Whilst the most detailed survey available, even a full RICS Level 3 Building Survey can leave some questions that require further inspection and can lead to a longer trail of suspicion. We often get asked which sort of survey is required for a particular property. As we only offer Building Surveys, we tend to recommend it where the property is … Read More
Building Defects
As part of our Building Survey report, we summarize any building defects found by our chartered surveyors in an easy to read table, prioritizing them using our traffic light system & adding estimated cost for repairs. With thousands of completed Building Surveys on our server, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at the most common building … Read More
Buying a house at Auction
A property auction can be a great way to snap up a bargain. It is a quick and cost effective method when buying a property. However, it is important that you understand the process and are prepared for the issues that may lie ahead. Before the auction The first step to take is to look on the internet or visit … Read More
What is a mortgage survey?
What is a mortgage survey? When buying a property with a mortgage, most providers will require that you undertake a mortgage survey before lending is approved. The sole aim of this survey is to satisfy the lender that the property you are purchasing has enough value to cover the amount they are lending you. The surveyor will briefly inspect the … Read More
Property Market in 2035
What will the property market look like in 2035? Back in 1995 we were in the early days of the internet, we worked in cubicles and our computers were chunky and powered by Windows 95. There were no touch screen phones or flat screen TVs; people laughed at the idea of reading electronic books, and watching a home movie meant … Read More
Building Surveying – The Chawton Hill Way
We launched our regional building surveying programme nearly 10 months ago & we now cover 8 counties in the South; Surrey, Middlesex, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Essex, Suffolk, Kent & Sussex. Local building surveyors are being attracted by our full service proposition whereby we generate bookings in a pre-agreed set of postcodes and our HQ team handle all survey administration. This leaves … Read More
Bad neighbour
A lighthearted look at what we think are the 10 most common annoying bad neighbour traits? Happy families! These are the neighbours who think they are on the Jeremy Kyle show most days and are likely to give you a live, up-close episode of their life. Wi-Fi stealers The neighbours that however many times you change your password, they always find … Read More
The case for Property Management
Here at Chawton Hill we have some good experience of working with Property Management company’s and owning income property. Whilst it can be very rewarding and often tempting to retain all of that rental income, property management requires a pretty large commitment of effort and time in the process. Here are some tasks to consider when deciding to go it … Read More