Home Buyers Survey City of London

When archaeologists were reconstructing the original Bank of England in Walbrook in 1954, they found the remains of a Roman Temple of Mithras (amusingly Mithras was worshipped as the God of Contracts, among other things). The Bank of England's present building in Threadneedle Street has been considerably rebuilt, in the first half of the 20th century, and although it has impressive doric columns and a powerful aura, it has not been met with universal approval by the architectural fraternity.

Christopher Wren's St Paul's Cathedral has a dome which can be seen from miles away and makes the building nearly as tall as the mammoth Saturn V rocket, synonymous with the moon landings of the later 20th century.

The Barbican is another more modern development and the complex not only consists of a large number of very expensive – but relatively small – flats but also a well-known auditorium and restaurant. It is the largest residential estate in the Square Mile.

Despite bomb damage from World War 2 and terrorism, there remain many dozens of (mostly Victorian and Edwardian) fine buildings, typically in historicist and neoclassical style. They include the Monument to the Great Fire of London ("the Monument"), St Paul's Cathedral, the Guildhall, the Royal Exchange, Dr. Johnson's House, Mansion House and a great many churches, many designed by Sir Christopher Wren, who also designed St Paul's. 2 King's Bench Walk and Prince Henry's Room are notable historic survivors of heavy bombing of the Temple area, which has largely been rebuilt to its historic form.

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You'll have to buy an Environmental Search for the property you're looking to buy if the purchase involves a mortgage, however there's many reasons for getting one even if you're a cash purchaser. To illustrate, a recent such conveyancing property search, bought for a dwelling in Boswell Street WC1N 3PZ in the City of London, revealed that there was a potential risk of surface water flooding within 250m, that the property was within 2km of each of the proposed rail projects: HS2, Crossrail 1 and Crossrail 2 and finally that the property was situated within 2km of existing or proposed solar farms> These kinds of findings can inform both you and your solicitor regarding your likely future enjoyment of your property and give you early warning as to whether there might be present or future issues which might, for example have an impact on any insurance you purchase. Your solicitor can then frame appropriate enquiries and, if the findings are of sufficient gravity, you might even decide to pull out of the purchase.	As a parishioner you can actually face a claim from your local parish church for chancel repair, which is where the local church, due to ancient statutes, can claim on parishioners to share the costs of making repairs or refurbishments to the church chancel/church roof and where these occur, they can be fairly costly, with individual households possibly being legally required to pay £1,000s. Buying a chancel repair indemnity insurance policy for a property you're looking to buy is an easy and efficient way of protecting yourself against this possible eventuality and among many others, one such policy was taken out for a property in Dance Square London EC1V 3AL within the City of London area. This policy generally costs around £20 to buy and normally covers the policy holder for claims to the limit of £1 million. One other approach is to get a Chancel Search, which reveals if the property you're looking to buy is in a parish where your local church can make such a legitimate claim on you.	The City of London has many areas of raised noise pollution from roads, which is understandable given the volume of traffic which comes in and out of the area daily. One of the peak areas for this is the Tower Hill/Minories/E. Smithfield/Tower Bridge Approach/Mansell Street junction and the noise is likely to affect residences in Royal Mint Court and Mansell Street itself.

The City of London is a county and its border is the same as the city of the City of London's. It's the world's premier financial centre and has uniquely more autonomy than any other county and has powers that overreach its boundary.

Technically the City also includes the exclaves/independent enclaves of the inner and Middle Temple, which neighbour each other and are two of the few remaining liberties, an old name for a geographic division.

The city's county corporation also owns and runs both Smithfield Market and Leadenhall Market. It owns land beyond its boundaries, including open spaces (parks, forests and commons) in and around Greater London, including most of Epping Forest, Hampstead Heath. The Honourable The Irish Society, a body closely linked with the Corporation, also owns many public spaces in Northern Ireland.

The Corporation owns Old Spitalfields Market and Billingsgate Fish Market, in the neighbouring London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It owns and helps fund the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court for England and Wales, as a gift to the nation, having begun as the City and Middlesex Sessions.

The boundary of the City was unchanged until minor boundary changes on 1 April 1994, when it expanded slightly to the west, north and east, taking small parcels of land from the London Boroughs of Westminster, Camden, Islington, Hackney and Tower Hamlets. The City also lost small parcels of land, though there was an overall net gain (the City grew from 1.05 to 1.12 square miles). Most notably, the changes placed the (then recently developed) Broadgate estate entirely in the City.

We have local RICS surveyors who specialise in listed building surveys in City of London. To find out more go to - Listed Building Surveys - Building Surveyor and Survey Cost in City of London