Service

The purpose of the Property Condition and Habitability Assessment is to inspect the property and provide a written assessment regarding its condition and suitability for habitation, with particular focus on issues related to damp, condensation, or moisture.

 

The service includes:

 

• a physical inspection of the property, limited specifically to moisture related issues and its impact on occupants and habitation.

 

• a report based on the inspection (see ‘The Report’ below). 


 

The Surveyor who provides this service aims to give you professional advice to: 


 

• Identify and document the extent of issues related to damp, condensation, surface mould and other moisture related issues.

• Assess the impact that issues pose to the health and safety of the occupants, making reference to assessment methodologies such as the Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)

• Evaluate the suitability of living conditions for the current occupants, with particular regard to any vulnerabilities such as health conditions or sensitivities.

• Assess the current overall habitability of the property and the likelihood of conditions worsening.

• Recommend practical measures to improve habitability and prevent future deterioration, with a view to both immediate repair and long-term management (if required).

 

Any extra services we provide are not covered by these terms and conditions and must be covered by a separate contract.

 

Examples of extra services include:

• Preparation of an itemised Schedule of Work to remediate the issue.

• Tender/pricing of any works.

• Contract Administration or over-seeing of the remedial works.

• Carrying out invasive investigations including drilling/cutting or opening up of the building fabric.

• The report will not identify hidden or concealed defects beyond the scope of non-invasive inspection.

• The assessment is limited in its scope to assessing the impact of issues on current living conditions and does not include advice on structural deterioration or damage to the building, such as rot or damp affecting sub-floor joists, unless these issues directly affect habitation.

• The assessment is valid at the time of the inspection; conditions may change or worsen especially dependent on seasonality. Where reasonably practical to do so, this shall be considered during our assessment.

 

The Surveyor

The service will be provided by an MRICS or FRICS member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) who has the skills, knowledge and experience to survey and report on the property.

 

The Inspection 


Before the inspection, Clients or representatives are asked to fill out our Instruction Form, to make clear of the specific concern and area to be inspected. The surveyor will rely upon information provided by the Client or Client’s legal or other professional advisors/representatives relating to the relevant matters which we will assume as authority/consent to speak on the Clients behalf and shall be referenced within our report. We shall assume this is an accurate and true account of the issue.

 

The surveyor shall carefully and thoroughly inspect the main building with our scope limited to fulfilling the objectives of this service as detailed above.

 

The inspection is regarded as a non-invasive/ non-destructive survey. If we are unable to satisfactorily diagnose the issue due to limitations of the inspection, we will recommend further investigations.

 

The surveyor does not force or open-up the fabric of the building without the owner’s consent or if there is a risk of causing injury of damage to persons or property. This includes taking up fitted carpets, floor coverings or floorboards, moving heavy furniture, removing contents of cupboards, roof spaces etc, removing secured panels and/or hatches or undoing electrical fittings. The underfloor areas not inspected.

 

Dependent on the defect in question, the surveyor will use equipment such as a damp meter, thermal camera, hygrometer (to measure humidity) and surface temperature to enable dew point calculations and condensation risk.

 

If applicable, we will use a ladder for flat roofs and for hatches no more than 3m above level ground (outside) or floor surfaces (inside), if it is safe to do so. 
If relevant to fulfilling our scope of service, the surveyor will enter the roof space and visually inspect the roof structure limiting the inspection to the area/part relevant to the defect in question.

 

Services to the Property

Services are typically concealed within the property's construction, so only accessible, visible elements can be inspected. The survey does not include specialist testing. The scope of our assessment is limited to its impact to safety and habitation and does not extend to detailed assessments of the entire services system.

 

Dangerous Materials, Contamination and Environmental Issues


The surveyor may assume that no harmful or dangerous materials have been used in the

construction, and does not have a duty to justify in

making this assumption.

 

The surveyor does not carry out an asbestos inspection and does not act as an asbestos inspector when inspecting properties that may fall within The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (‘CAR 2012’). However, the report may comment where the presence of asbestos containing materials are suspected and whether advice should be gained prior to any works.

The Report

The surveyor shall produce a report of the inspection results for you to use for the purpose of this inspection but cannot accept any liability if it is used by anyone else.

 

The report will reference the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) to evaluate the severity of hazards and determine the impact on the occupants and suitability of habitation.

 

The report shall contain a schedule of photographs demonstrating the extent of any issues together with the results of our assessment.

 

In most cases, the inspection is sufficient to enable us to comment with a degree of certainty on the cause and seriousness of the issue. However, we will provide advice relating to further testing if required to understand the total impact.

 

 

Terms of Payment and Delivery of Service

You agree to pay our fee and any other charges agreed in writing.

 

The visit to the property will be made by the Surveyor once payment has been made.

We do not hold monies in a client account for the purpose of survey instructions although your money is protected by our cancellations policy as stated in these terms of engagement.

Once the visit has been made, the report will be subsequently compiled and sent via email. 

If a hard copy is required, this will be charged at £75 per copy which includes postage. Reports are posted recorded delivery. We hold no responsibility for reports not being received once they have been mailed.

Reports are typically issued electronically within 5-7 working days of the inspection taking place.

Cancelling this contract

You should seek advice on your obligations under The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (‘the Regulations’) and/or the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Upon signing the terms, you agree to waiver your 14 day cooling off cancellation rights to ensure the survey can proceed without delay. 

 

We allow 1 working day (this does not include weekends) before the date of the visit to the property to cancel your instruction to us. If you choose to cancel the survey or amend the date of the survey after this time your fee will become non-refundable at our discretion.

 

Once a visit has been made, a report will be produced by the surveyor and the agreed work will have been completed in accordance with our Terms and Conditions. No amendments to the original agreement can be made after this time.

 

The surveyor may cancel the contract and will report this to you as soon as possible if, after arriving at the property, the surveyor decides that they lack the specialist knowledge of the method of construction used to build the property or that the inspection is inappropriate for the property concerned. The surveyor will attempt to contact you immediately once this decision is made on the contact numbers which you have provided. If the surveyor cancels this contract, they will refund all monies to you and a written explanation to you of the specific issues which prevented the survey from proceeding.

Missed Appointments

Missed appointments are charged at half the fee plus disbursements/travel costs.

 

Missed appointments include any circumstances in which the surveyor is unable to carry out the full instruction on the day and time which the appointment has been booked and confirmed as per these terms and conditions or as per any subsequent amendments.

Circumstances leading to missed appointments include but are not limited to:

• The surveyor not being granted access by the vendor, agent, tenant or any other involved party.

• The agent, tenant, vendor or other involved party being obstructive to the duties of the surveyor and the client's instruction.

• The agent providing the wrong keys or not providing access to the property which results in the survey not being able to take place at the agreed time/date.

• Any other circumstances leading to a missed appointment which is no fault of House to Homes Survey Ltd.

Although we realise sometimes these circumstances are not the fault of the client, it is advised the client does everything possible to ensure agents, tenants, vendors, and any other involved party behaves in a way which is conducive to the normal duties of an independent surveyor. Clients should be aware of the reasons why any of the people involved may obstruct the duties of an independent surveyor.

In addition, we also advise that in these circumstances, if you as the client becomes subject to these fees where the fault is not your own, you should pursue the cost with the person or company who has obstructed the process.

Liability

The report is provided for your use, and the surveyor cannot accept responsibility if it is used, or relied upon, by anyone else. 


No third-party liability is accepted, meaning no other parties other than the Client named within the report may rely upon its content. We do not hold any liability to any third party.

The inspection will be undertaken, and the report prepared by a Chartered Building surveyor exercising due diligence. In the event of negligence on our part the measure of damages will be based on diminution in market value or the cost of rectifying defects at the time of survey whichever is lower. The contract is governed by English Law and parties to the contract agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of English courts.

Referral Fees:

It may be that your case was introduced to us by a third party (i.e previous customer, agent or financial services provider). It is common practice for a proportion of our fee to be paid to the introducer. If you wish to be provided with details of any commission payment payable to the introducer, please contact our office prior to returning this document.

Conflict of Interest

We are not aware that there is any conflict of interest with any known parties in this transaction. If you become aware of any conflict of interest, please notify us immediately.

Complaints Handling Procedure

A copy of our Complaints procedure is obtainable on written request from: The Complaints Administrator, Unit 4C Gattinetts Business Park, Hadleigh Road, East Bergholt, CO7 6QT.