Dr xxx

Xxxxxx

Malvern

Dear Mr Prosser

Many thanks for your help and advice with the purchase of xxx Drive.  Following your survey I reduced my offer to your valuation figure. It was accepted straightaway. I am definitely glad I had your survey done. Many thanks again. 

SB

Dear Mr Prosser

Thank you for the extremely detailed and thorough survey.

Yours SR

School of Bio Sciences                                                                   

University of Birmingham

Edgbaston

Birmingham

B15 2TT

Dear Mr Prosser

xx Road, Alvechurch.

Many thanks for providing us with a very clear and comprehensive survey on the above property. We are following up on the issues you raised in your report and may need to take you up on your kind offer to discuss these in more details in the near future.

Thank you again for your help.

Yours sincerely

R

Paid with thanks……….for a good job, David.

J D

Subsidence!

Broken roof truss!

This truss has snapped across the middle. Nailing pieces of wood across the break will not help in the long term.

Roof failure!!

Flat Roof in Brand New House

Thank you

Hi David,

Thank you for the survey, I’ve gone into it in much more detail and have to say I’m very impressed with how exhaustive and clearly everything is explained. Following your advice from the phone call we had I’ve contacted Rudders & Paynes regarding a quote and am waiting to hear back from them. I’ve also requested quotes from a builder and am waiting to hear back from a roofer regarding the other issues you’ve highlighted. Once we have these quotes we’ll have a much better idea of where we stand.

I just wanted to run by what I’ve been discussing with my partner with you and would appreciate your feedback if possible.  

We see the timber preservation, electrics and damp proofing as matters of immediate urgency so pending the report from Rudders and Paynes we would have to carry out whatever work they advise upon completion. The repointing would need to be done as soon as possible but could probably wait for a couple of months if need be. We would intend to make immediate remedial repairs to the roof to make it water tight and then look to replace in coming years; the chimneys would be looked at immediately with the likelihood that we would remove the one at the rear. The ceilings would also be repaired as soon as the work on the electrics are completed. 

Does this all sound reasonable or do you feel we are underestimating the issues that you have highlighted? Also do you think that we have missed anything? 

Many thanks, 

Jonathan.

EXTEND YOUR LEASE

Owners of flats where the lease is winding down towards eighty years unexpired should not delay in making enquiries to purchase the freehold or obtain an extension. 

In times of financial restraint it can be difficult to organise the owners of individual flats to agree to pay out what could be a few thousand pounds to acquire their freehold, as permitted under current legislation. Mortgage lenders, however, are becoming increasing reluctant to lend on short leases so some sort of action should be taken, either an outright purchase of the freehold by everybody or an extension of the lease which will eventually make purchasing the freehold cheaper. 

The problem is that once a lease has less than eighty years to run, the freeholder is entitled to charge an extra element which is called marriage value. 

The owner of a long lease who wishes to start negotiations can apply to their freeholder or the freeholder, in some cases, might make an offer to the leaseholder. 

Negotiation is a key aspect of the process as the initial price quoted by a freeholder is often inflated, but if the leaseholder has lived at the property for the correct period there is some protection on the amount payable. 

Calculating the correct premium to be paid is a complex matter which varies with each property. Briefly it involves capitalizing the income and valuing what is known as the reversion. In addition the marriage value has to be taken into account if the lease is shorter than eighty years.  Briefly, marriage value is the increase in value, or profit, which results from the lease being extended or the freehold being acquired. This profit element is split between the leaseholder and freeholder.

Taking advice from a chartered surveyor and a solicitor is vital if you are intending to buy your freehold or extend your lease.