What Does a Surveyor Check Before You Buy a House With an Open-Plan Ground Floor?
Open-plan ground floors now appear in roughly one in three UK homes listed for sale, yet fewer than half of buyers commission a survey that goes beyond a basic visual inspection. That gap matters, because behind a stylish kitchen-diner may sit an unlicensed beam, an under-supported padstone, or a damp problem masked by a new […]
Can a Surveyor Value a Property With an Unregistered Extension? Evidence, Assumptions and Risk
Roughly one in five UK homes sold each year has had some form of extension or alteration, and a significant proportion of those lack complete planning or building-regulation records. That gap in paperwork sits at the centre of one of the most common friction points between buyers, lenders and RICS surveyors: can a surveyor value […]
September 2026 UK Property Market: Why a Small Asking-Price Rebound Does Not Remove Building Survey Risk
A 0.4% monthly uptick in advertised asking prices makes for a reassuring headline. It does not fix a cracked lintel, a failing damp-proof course, or a roof that has three years of useful life left in it. The September 2026 UK property market: why a small asking-price rebound does not remove building survey risk is […]
Asbestos Survey or Building Survey in a UK Home: What Each Inspection Can and Cannot Tell You
Roughly half of all UK homes built before 2000 contain at least one asbestos-containing material (ACM), yet the majority of buyers who commission a RICS building survey assume that report will tell them whether asbestos is present. It will not. Understanding the difference between an asbestos survey and a building survey is one of the […]
Rightmove Asking Prices September 2026: UK Housing Market Rise 0.7%, What It Means for Kingston Sellers
Last updated: September 25, 2026 Quick Answer Rightmove's House Price Index, published 21 September 2026, recorded a 0.7% monthly rise in average new-seller asking prices across the UK, a cash increase of £2,441, taking the national average to £367,440[1]. This is the first monthly rise since May 2026 and follows a 2.0% drop the previous […]
Building Survey vs Valuation Survey: UK Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Right Report in 2026
Nearly one in five UK property transactions involves a buyer who later discovers a significant defect that a proper survey would have flagged, yet thousands of purchasers still rely on a basic mortgage valuation and assume it protects their interests. This Building Survey vs Valuation Survey: UK Buyer's Guide to Choosing the Right Report in […]
How Surveyors Read Crack Patterns in UK Homes: Hairline, Step, Diagonal and Settlement Cracks Explained
Subsidence insurance claims in the UK have surged by roughly 30% year-on-year in 2026, driven by successive hot, dry summers that shrink the clay soils beneath millions of homes [1]. Yet the vast majority of cracks that homeowners discover are not caused by subsidence at all. The challenge, and the skill, lies in knowing which […]
What Does a Surveyor Actually Check in a Building Survey? A Room-by-Room UK Inspection Guide
Nearly one in five UK property purchases uncovers a significant defect that the buyer did not anticipate before exchange, defects that can cost tens of thousands of pounds to fix. A building survey is the primary tool buyers have to avoid that outcome, yet most people commissioning one have little idea what actually happens during […]
Satellite Imagery in Property Surveying: How UK Surveyors Use Remote Evidence for Boundary, Damp and Defect Screening
Fewer than one in five UK homebuyers commission a full building survey before exchange, yet the physical evidence needed to protect their investment increasingly begins not at the front door, but hundreds of metres above it. Satellite imagery in property surveying, and the wider discipline of remote sensing, have transformed the way chartered surveyors gather […]
