he office will be closed between Christmas and New Year however we shall be monitoring e.mails and messages over this period and we should be able to reply to Survey enquiries and follow-up questions without undue delay.

We have availability to undertake new instructions from 8th January onwards and we welcome all new and returning clients.

As always it has been a real pleasure to receive so many positive testimonials during the course of 2017 and we shall be striving for the same in 2018. Providing good quality Surveys and excellent customer service is the prime aim of our business.

Edwin Lake Ltd supports a number of charities and in 2018 we shall be raising funds for Dorothy House Hospice Care. Richard Lake will be running the Bath Half in support of Dorothy House and, for each new Survey instructed in January and February,  we shall donate £10 to Dorothy House. We shall also match any donations received from clients pound for pound.

To donate please go to:

http://www.justgiving.com/Richard-Lake7972

See also:

Home

Home

There are several important points for clients to note though when purchasing a listed property. A common mistake is that the grading tells you how much of the house is listed. This is incorrect as all the building is listed including both inside and outside, plus the area around the building is also protected.

Before you purchase the property, you must ensure that all work in the past had planning permission. Carrying out unauthorised works to a listed building is a criminal offence and individuals can be prosecuted. Therefore you may be deemed responsible for any infringements of previous owners of the property and the Local Authority has the right to insist that works undertaken without consent are reversed.

Your Solicitor should advise you on how Listed Building Consent affects the purchase of the property. Usually the vendor has to indemnify the purchaser against any potential infringements if insufficient evidence can be produced of compliance.

The majority are built from locally quarried Forest Marble, which is an extremely durable stone and one of the reasons why Frome has so many surviving buildings of interest. Chimney stacks are commonly constructed of brick being more fire resistant than stone and the red brick chimney stacks add to the town’s warm red/brown coloured roofscape.

Since the late 1970s, £1.8 million of grant aid has been put into restoring and regenerating the much loved listed buildings ensuring that the distinctive heritage of the town continues.

The week after 23rd June saw a small number of cancellations and very few new instructions. Things were looking bleak.

The week of 4th July saw things return to some sort of normality. There have been many new Survey instructions and BREXIT is no longer front page news, at least not the only front page news. The FTSE250 has recovered lost ground and the FTSE100 has pushed higher still.

In order to assess the impact of BREXIT we have made contact with some of the Survey Price Comparison sites to see how the number of enquiries has been affected on a national or regional level. ReallyMoving reported a drop in enquiries of around 20% in the week after the BREXIT vote. We would expect this to now be returning to more normal levels.

Local Surveyors Direct issued the following statement:

“At the moment (7 July 2016), indications are that general activity is slightly down but not taking a big hit. In other words, it does not look like we are about to sink into a deep recession in the economy or in the housing market.

On referendum results day (Friday 24 June) we certainly noticed a drop while everyone presumably held their breath.  The number of customers running requests for property related services across the UK was down 31% on what we would normally have expected to see on a Friday.  But activity increased over the weekend and on Sunday the numbers were up again and much closer to normal.

Over the last 7 days (1 July to 7 July), the number of property related enquires were 4% down in comparison to the numbers before Brexit (15 June to 22 June).  This is probably about normal, as taking into consideration the time of year, we do expect to see a very slight drop in activity.”

The above is reflected in our own experience over the last two weeks. So far the housing market is holding up but we stand by comments in the previous post that some of the exuberance will dissipate and we may be entering into a period of lower growth in Property Values.

The roof structure is one of the most important elements of a property and something we will spend some time examining when carrying out a Survey. The RICS suggest that 45 minutes is a reasonable time to spend in a loft as part of a Building Survey.

The roof will provide the framework for supporting the roof coverings and upper ceilings. Typically it will also strengthen the upper walls and restrain gable walls.

A standard ‘up-and-over’ roof is best constructed as a triangle with the ceiling joists normally being joined to the feet of the rafters.

If the roof is not a triangle the weight of the roof coverings and imposed load such as snow will have a tendency to push down on the roof and if the rafters splay outwards they will exert outward thrust on the walls and cause roof-spread (leaning walls). We find that this can be a problem in many older houses of Georgian or earlier construction where ceiling joists span from side to side and where the connections of any ties or collars to the rafters may be poor.

The diagram below shows a ‘text book’ Victorian roof structure.

Text Book Roof

Not only is the roof a robust triangle but the rafters have intermediate support from purlins and the purlins have strut support to the internal wall, normally present between bedrooms. There are also tie timbers to join the front and rear roof slopes together and binder timbers which both strengthen the ceiling joists and, when embedded into the party walls, they further improve the triangulation of the roof. The ties shown in the diagram below act in compression and so they would be more accurately described as a strut.

When Surveying a typical Victorian terrace it is normally found that some of the above elements are missing. It is rare to find both struts and ties together and it is common for struts to transfer load to ceilings joists which are not designed for this purpose. It is very common to find that binders have been cut to install a loft hatch or simply fitted as an afterthought or that a roofer has provided extra struts bearing upon ceiling joists or even small timbers placed across two ceiling joists. Binders are important as ceiling joists are normally not a single timber but two timbers, hopefully nailed together above the internal wall. It is also common for only a number of ceiling joists to be joined to the rafters with the others being set in between.

Typical Victorian raters are ‘3 by 2s’ or approximately 75mm x 50mm set at around 400mm centres. The maximum span of this size of timber is around 2.0m although a more substantial Victorian house or a 1930’s property will have ‘4 x 2s’ or 100mm x 50mm timbers for which a span of 2.5m is acceptable. Many roofs will have purlin support for the rafters so the overall span can be increased. Purlins vary in size with a robust purlin being around 220mm x 75mm, most are smaller however. It is worth noting that a simple strut support for a purlin will significantly shorten the span and strengthen a roof at modest cost. Purlin struts are often the same size as rafters and being slender, they are prone to bowing.

So, when carrying out a Building Survey these are some of the points we would be checking:

• What is the size of the rafters and is the size reasonable given the span.
• What direction to the ceiling joists span and are they nailed to the feet of the rafters.
• Are there purlins and what are the bearings like.
• Are there struts and if so how is the load transferred.
• Are the ceiling joists continuous and are there binders. Are the binders embedded in the party walls.
• What is the size of the ceiling joists and are they sagging.
• Is there wood-beetle damage or rot.
• Have there been any alterations to the roof frame, for example for the installation of an access hatch.
• Are the wall plates in good condition or are they rotting due to poor roof coverings.
• Have the roof coverings been changed, for example to a heavy concrete tile imposing extra dead-load on the roof and if so is there evidence that Building Regulation approval was obtained.

As part of a Building Survey we would suggest options for strengthening a roof but the exact specification should always be calculated by a Structural Engineer and Building Regulations will apply. 

We would not be expected to undertake such a detailed roof inspection as part of a RICS HomeBuyer Survey and this is one of several reasons why a Building Survey is the better option for a Victorian house where the roof construction is often so much less satisfactory than a say a 1930’s house where timbers are normally larger and connection between the timbers better.

There seems to be little disputing that leaving the EU will most likely adversely affect the economy, afterall post-war economic growth has been largely built on the back of free-trade. This may be a direct result of loss of access to markets or through a loss of confidence and consumers delaying or deciding against a particular purchasing decision. This is the mechanism which drives the cyclical nature of the economy. Confidence has a real impact.

On the positive side a weaker pound will make our exports more competitive and more people will visit the UK on holiday (at least it will be cheaper for them to do so), we may be less likely to holiday abroad and this is good for our economy, especially in Bath and Bristol. The FTSE100 is higher now than it has been for some time although the FTSE250 is down significantly on recent months but it is still around 2015 levels. It is the FTSE250 which is more UK focused whereas the FTSE100 are mostly global corporations. If it is possible to negotiate a trade deal similar to that of Norway then we will still have access to the single market. The ‘cost’ of this is free movement and a financial cost not so different to what we are paying to be a full member of the EU.

We have had only a small number of cancelled Surveys as a direct result of BREXIT however clients are keen to know how events might affect the Value of their proposed purchase. There is no evidence either way at present. Just uncertainty. Phone and internet enquiries have been very low in the past week. For the most part Valuations are as at the date of the inspection, a snap-shot in time. We have been given guidance from the RICS which includes paragraphs to highlight the fact that there are high levels of uncertainty at this time.

My own opinion is that the property market is cyclical with periods of rising prices and falling prices and with an overall upward trend in the long term. This is shown in the diagram below. We have had several years of rising prices with growth which has far outstripped rises in earnings. Maybe BREXIT will mark the start of a period of reduced demand. We recently carried out a Survey and Valuation of a house in the Bedminster area, there were (apparently) 17 viewings and 10 offers over a weekend. It is hard to see that BREXIT will not help reduce demand but equally most buyers and many sellers would be happy enough to be in a more calm market, maybe a couple of offers over a period of several weeks.

If property prices stop rising so fast or even fall a little is this a bad thing? Maybe not, afterall most sellers go onto buy so it is only down-sizers who would benefit or those inheriting a property. Rising property prices do however make us feel more wealthy and this gives us confidence to spend and hence the economy benefits. The opposite will be true for purchasers who find themselves with houses or flats worth less than what they paid or less than the mortgage. It is suggested that interests rates will be more likely to fall than rise at the time of writing and clearly this will also benefit many householders.

Fortunately circumstances are very different from 2007 and the last down-turn when the housing market was so badly affected by the banking crises. Today the banks are in so much better financial shape with considerably greater reserves and we have not seen any real return of the doubtful lending criteria and practices which added to the problems back in 2007 / 8.

The diagram below shows the rate of house price inflation rather than the average price. Both these diagrams show that periods of falling house prices are short-lived.

Chimneys are often out-of-sight and therefore out-of-mind. They are normally one of the most exposed parts of the property and potentially one of the more expensive repairs if there is significant damage. Careful maintenance will reduce the risks of expensive repairs.

The chimneys are one of the first elements we assess as part of a Survey.  At first glance the left image above shows a chimney which is an average condition, maybe some minor works of re-pointing required but no significant problems perhaps. Using binoculars and a camera with a large zoom lens we were able to look more closely, reflect on the findings after the initial Survey and further magnify the image when back in the office.

The second image shows open mortar joints but the upper masonry appears to be splayed outwards and the pots are not vertical. There is a good chance that the mortar between the blocks is weak and the upper stone-work will probably be found to be loose and insecure. Unless repaired this could be a safety risk. There is a good chance that this chimney will need a fairly comprehensive repair, likely costing thousands rather than hundreds of pounds. Older properties can have two or three chimneys.

Furthermore, the lead-work around the base of the chimney was found to be very poorly constructed and inevitably vulnerable to leaks. Flashings should always be neatly constructed, ideally with separate soakers as shown in the third image.

As part of a Building Survey the client would be advised of the nature of the chimney construction, the condition, the repair options, time frames and possibly costs also. The client will be able to plan and budget for maintenance and possibly agree a reduction in the price agreed for a defect about which they were not aware when they originally viewed the property.

The stone mines at Combe Down were oolite limestone mines, mainly worked in the 18th and 19th century. The Bath stone used for many of the buildings in Bath was mined from beneath and around Combe Down. The mines were closed in the 19th century but building work continued above ground with some roads and houses eventually resting on only a thin crust, in places only 1m – 2m deep, above large underground cavities with inadequate support.

A central government-funded project began in late 2005 to stabilise and fill the abandoned mine workings. Bath and North East Somerset Council approved the planning application in June 2003 and approximately 760 village properties were included within its boundary. All mine workings inside the boundary of the planning application were stabilised.

Over 40 quarry sites have been identified but only one working quarry (Upper Lawn Quarry) remains on the edge of the village, located off Shaft Road, which supplies Bath stone to the city and more widely across the UK.

Properties in the affected area were Surveyed before and after the stabilisation. When purchasing a house in this area copies of the reports should be obtained together with the certificate confirming completion of works. When carrying out a pre-purchase Survey in the area we would pay very close attention to any signs of cracking to the internal and external walls, windows and doors would be checked for sticking and binding and internal joinery carefully inspected for signs of disruption.

It has been noted that as a result of the stabilisation of the underground mine workings, there have been problems relating to surface water drainage and a small number of properties in the area have been damaged as a result of the works. Opencast quarries or mines in the area have, in some cases, been found to be filled with waste materials before being built over. In a small number of cases the waste materials have been found to be contaminated and therefore it is sometimes recommended that a Geotechnical Report be obtained prior to purchase.

There are a number of other areas around Bath where stone has been mined. Examples include the village of Box between Bath and Corsham.

Further information relating to the mines in Combe Down can be found by following the link below.

CombeDownMines