Home Buyers Survey Birmingham

Get an Instant Quote for a RICS Home Buyers Survey Birmingham or call us on 0121 285 2938 (Mon-Fri 8-6 Sat 11-1)

 
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"First Class Service. We are more than impressed with the quick, professional service we have received from this company, very clear report with good Photograph, of areas of interest, also the Team followed up the report with a phone call to make sure we understood the information that we had received. EXCELLENT. Thank you"

Val Edwards, Trustpilot review in November 2018.

* Competitive Prices - Local Surveyors - Same Week Availability - Terms Apply

What Types of House Survey Do We Offer?


SAM is one of the UK’s largest network of Surveyors with local surveyors throughout England. Our most popular property surveys are HomeBuyer Reports and Building Surveys and these inspections are completed by local RICS surveyors who have years of experience.

We handle all of the booking so you just need to call us for a quote and then we'll handle all of the access for you.
We offer many types of house survey including:
  • Level 2: HomeBuyers Report
  • Level 3: Building Survey
  • Damp & Timber Survey
  • Load Bearing Wall Survey
  • Chimney Breast Removal Survey
  • Snagging Survey
  • Removal of load bearing wall Survey
  • Property Valuation Survey
  • Probate Valuation Survey
  • Leasehold Valuation Survey
  • Structural Engineer Survey

If you are unsure which house survey to book click here or call us and we’ll advise you.

Not sure whether you need a Level 2: HomeBuyers Report or a Level 3: Building Survey? Find out by clicking here and seeing example reports
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House Survey Cost

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Local Building Surveyors (throughout England)


House Survey 

Fast Availability and Delivery of Reports


RICS Surveyors

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors - RICS Surveyors

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FREE Online Conveyancing Process for Buyers

Includes online checklists, videos, downloads and tips - plus it is free to use and remembers your progress.


House Survey Cost

Love our Competitive
House Survey Costs

We keep the house survey cost down regardless of what property survey you need and tell you how much does a survey cost.

Home Buyers Survey Birmingham

Local West Midlands 
Building Surveyors

Our Building Surveyor uses their local knowledge of Birmingham to ensure they deliver a detailed homebuyers report to help you decide whether you should move forward with your home move or if you should pull out.

Home Buyers Survey Birmingham

Fast Availability and
Delivery of Reports

We normally have availability within days of you booking and our turnaround for homebuyers survey reports is within 5 working days.

Birmingham HomeBuyers Survey

Panel of Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors - RICS Surveyors

All of our chartered RICS Surveyors are registered with and regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and have indemnity insurance that covers all of the work they undertake for you.

A Home Buyer Survey - What does it cover?

A RICS Home Buyers Survey involves an examination of the structure of the inside and the outside of a property aimed at pinpointing issues such as subsidence, damp, cracks, infestation and damage.

The survey is non-intrusive. If you are thinking of buying a property in Birmingham, it is highly advisable to book one, whether a Building Survey (which used to be known as a Full Structural Survey) or a HomeBuyers Report,.

NB If you're a first time buyer, you might wish to click on What is a House Survey to find out more, including what happens during the inspection.

Click to find out how much does a house survey cost (free, no obligation quote)
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Subsidence Inspection

The surveyor will look for signs of subsidence during the structural survey within the property paying special attention to signs of cracking internally and to the external walls. As a rule, if you can fit the width of a 50p into a crack in a wall, it could be a sign of subsidence. Our surveyors will flag in their reports if they feel you need to instruct a structural engineer to review a crack further.


Read more about subsidence

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Damp Testing

There are numerous reasons why a property can be affected by damp. The Surveyor will take samples in the property using a damp meter and assess the condition of the property to provide a report on whether they feel the property is affected by damp. Further investigations maybe suggested including getting a damp and timber specialist. 


Read more about damp testing and repairs

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Identify Infestations

Woodworm, mice, rats and ants are infestations that your don't want in your home. Your surveyor will look for visible signs of mouse droppings, damage to floor boards (when visible) and damage to wiring, carpets or skirting boards


Read more about infestations

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Asbestos

Prior to its banned use, asbestos was a commonly used building material, particularly as part of cement products, floor tiles and roofing shingles. Asbestos was used for its durability and resistance to heat and is commonly found in artex ceilings, garage roofing and chimney stacks. Your surveyor will confirm if they suspect any materials in the property have asbestos and if so, suggest getting an asbestos surveyor to intrusively taking samples of the asbestos to confirm the type.


Read more about asbestos

If your survey highlights concerns relating to any of these defects your surveyor explains what the issue is in detail and provides a recommendation as to what you should do to further investigate. An example of this is if your surveyor spots signs of damp within the property. Over 5,000 properties a week in the UK have damp proofing laid to combat the issue of rising damp and home buyers fear seeing mould, peeling wall paper and sodden floors as these are all tell-tale signs of rising damp.

If your property is showing these signs and your surveyor notes using their damp monitor that there is damp internally they'll advise you to get a damp specialist to attend the property, confirm the issue advising whether it is rising damp and quote for the costs in repairing with damp proofing.

If you're looking at buying a home in Birmingham which is showing signs of damp, or any other defects then you MUST get a Home Buyers Survey. The costs for repairing the defects can run into thousands of pounds; however, If you can identify the problem before you purchase then you can get quotes for fixing it and either share the costs with the seller, or, in worst case examples, choose not to proceed.

You can find a local RICS surveyor by using the search at the bottom RHS of this page.
Get Quote

Survey tips for properties in Birmingham


Birmingham is a large city and it grew most spectacularly during the period of the industrial revolution and most of its buildings date from the 18th, 19th, 20th and present centuries.

Some medieval buildings survive, such as the Saracen's Head pub (15th century) and a number from the Georgian period, such as St Philip's Cathedral and Soho House. Victorian buildings include the Victoria Law Courts. There are many streets consisting purely of redbrick terraces.

Many standard construction semi-detached and terrace homes were built in the early 20th century. Birmingham was heavily bombed during the war, which led to more development – and demolishing of older stock – and much of it was in the brutalist style, such as the tower blocks of Castle Vale.

Many of the brutalist tower blocks have been subsequently demolished and redeveloped and there are plenty of new build developments in the city, such as St Pauls Chambers – modern low-rise blocks – and the stunning detached properties in Kendal End Road, Barnt Green.

Many homes in the city are sold under shared ownership terms, such as a number of the dwellings in Springslade. 

In March 2019, Homes England announced that it would help fund the Port Loop Development with £7.45 million to put towards the building of 1,150 new homes in this area which is on the edge of Birmingham City Centre (click to find out more).



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Properties in Birmingham built very close to the canals such as Digbeth Branch Cana, the Birmingham Canal Old Line and the Grand Union Canal, and rivers such as the River Rea, are subject to flood warnings and alerts from time to time.

If you are concerned that a property you are looking to buy is in a flood risk area, you should consider getting a flood risk report (click for more details).
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According to the UK Government's Public Health England, some parts of Birmingham, including streets such as Sydenham Road and Oxford Road, are in a raised radon area, with properties built there having a higher probability than average of experiencing ground Radon emissions.

The raised Radon area has a maximum radon potential of 5 - 10% (the percentage is the chance of a property being built where Radon emissions might measure above the action level).

If you are concerned that a property you are buying is in an area of raised Radon, please click to visit Public Health England's UK Radon Map. Click also to find out more about Radon, Radon property searches and much more.
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Properties in some areas of Birmingham may be affected by environmental constraints.

A recent environmental search carried out for a property in Twickenham Road, Birmingham, West Midlands, B44 0SX revealed that the property was within 250m of an area likely to be impacted by environmental constraints. These included the designated Nature Improvement Area of Birmingham and The Black Country.

Areas which have been designated as having environmental or historical importance may impose constraints on property or land developments or alterations.
West-MidlandsThe West Midlands is a metropolitan county located in western central England and is the second most populous county with an estimated population of over 2.8 million (2014). It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The county consists of seven metropolitan boroughs: the City of Birmingham, the City of Coventry, and the City of Wolverhampton, as well as Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, and Walsall.

The county is landlocked and one of the most heavily urbanised areas in the UK. It has a number of Sites of Special Scientific Interest, including Sutton Park, which has a number of different habitats, including wetlands, woodlands, marshes and heathlands, and has also been designated a National Nature Reserve.

There are five universities in the county; the University of Warwick, The University of Birmingham, Aston University, Keele University, Harper Adams University. The county also hosts numerous notable football clubs, including Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Coventry City, West Bromwich Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Walsall. Warwickshire County Cricket Club's home ground is Edgbaston in Birmingham. Birmingham, incidentally, has more canals than Venice and more trees than Paris! 

Listed Building Surveyors Birmingham
We have local RICS surveyors who specialise in listed building surveys in the Birmingham area including its surrounds including e.g. Smethwick and Walsall.

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Birmingham Planning Application Search

You can review what planning applications have been granted or denied for properties in your area by contacting Birmingham City Council at Feedback Freepost, Birmingham, B1 1BR, telephone 0121 303 1113, or you can check for the most recently stored planning applications online here:


Read the following article if you are thinking about building an extension.

RICS Find a surveyor in Birmingham

Our Building Surveyors specialise in the local area and have completed house surveys in Smethwick, King's Heath, Walsall, Dudley, Sutton Coldfield, Lytchett Minster and Solihull.

We employ only expert RICS Building Surveyors to undertake surveys in Birmingham. Whether you are buying an old run down 'doer upper' or standard construction freehold house, our RICS surveyors have seen them all.

With a vast number of years of experience completing surveys on properties in Birmingham we'll be able to give you the detailed report you need to know what defects there are with your property.

You can see some of our expert surveyors by clicking here - 


Recently completed Home Buyers Survey in Birmingham:


  • 131 Whitehall Road, Birmingham, West Midlands, B9 5EN
  • 297 Brandwood Park Road, Birmingham, B14 6QR
  • Apartment 15, 36 Ryland Street, Birmingham, B16 8DB
  • 4 Hartledon Road, Harborne, Birmingham, B17 0AD
  • 21 Barton Lodge Road, Birmingham, West Midlands, B28 0RW

 

My estate agent told me I don’t need a survey

Fortunately we only come across this on occasion. As we know, English Law puts the emphasis on the buyer in a conveyancing transaction to complete all reasonable checks on the property prior to exchange.

This is explained by the legal term – caveat emptor – which is the principle that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made.

Although the estate agent’s intentions may be pure in advising against a survey, in the event of a buyer moving into a property and finding that there are defects that would have been identified in the simplest of RICS surveyor checks, there is no recourse to the estate agent after the fact.

If the surveyor does not identify any significant defects, then the buyer can complete the purchase with peace of mind, however if defects are identified then an informed decision can be made on whether to proceed with the purchase prior to being contractually tied in.

A survey does also on occasion provide an opportunity to renegotiate on price based on newly identified problems not spotted on first inspection.

An estate agent is paid on completion as is the vendor therefore their drivers for additional property checks are very different to those of the buyers’.


HomeBuyers Survey Birmingham

Level 2: HomeBuyer Report with a Valuation

A HomeBuyer Report is a good general inspection for new properties, flats, bungalows and other properties of standard construction. The majority of Birmingham's leasehold flats require only a HomeBuyers Report but for any Victorian conversions, a Building Survey may well be required.

Click to see a Level 2: HomeBuyers Report with Valuation example.


HomeBuyers Survey Birmingham

Level 3: Building Survey

In the main, houses in Birmingham which are over 50 years old, have been developed or have an unusual style justify booking a Building Survey as this is the most comprehensive visual inspection a RICS surveyor can provide.

Click to see a RICS Level 3 Building Survey example.

Read our detailed comparison guide on which RICS Survey to get for your property, or you can speak to one of our survey specialists on 0121 285 2938.

Which survey suits your style of property in Birmingham
Choose which survey based on its type, style and age
Get a competitively priced RICS quote
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