Period Property Residential Surveys
If you are buying a period property, you are buying one that is rather special and with high quality detailing and features and you'll want to know that it really is as good as it looks.
Period Properties tend to be pre-1900 but not necessarily Listed. Some might be slightly younger, perhaps into the 1930's. As a guide, approximately 22% of the UK housing stock is pre-1900 and some of these will fall into the Period Property category.
Period Properties tend to have high quality features such as:
- High quality brickwork, pointing and detailing
- Detailed approach to architectural design
- Specialist carpentry and joinery externally as well as internally
- High quality staircases, architraves and skirtings
- Detailed ceilings and cornices
- Decorative metalwork
- Sash windows and timber shutters still in place
These properties were usually very expensive to construct in their day and would have been owned by wealthy families. Consequently, in the current housing market they tend to attract a premium rate and are usually at the upper end of the price range in comparison to other properties in the locality.
Additionally, period properties tend to have a good basis for the initial construction and the problems tend to result from previous owners undertaking poor quality repairs or works done with no regard to the architectural design. These will cost you money to resolve. The survey report will help you understand these factors and you can decide whether the building is as good as you thought it was.
Common problems found in these properties might be:
- Frost damage to expensive brickwork
- Inadequate floor ventilation
- Poor quality structural alterations from removing internal walls
- Rotten timber joinery
- Poor quality roofing and leadwork
- Out of date wiring and heating
- Blocked drains
- Sash windows that no longer work
Avoid the pitfall of assuming that the house is fine just because the internal cosmetic appearance is attractive. Request a quote from Foxtrot and save yourself money, time and worry.
