For the purpose of purchasing equity/staircasing or the sale of a shared ownership property.

This kind of valuation is most common in a shared ownership property, in which a resident owns a percentage and rents the rest from a housing association, usually at below market rate. This type of survey is needed when changes take place to the equity (i.e. percentage owned) or ownership.

An expert valuation establishes the full market value from which the share between the Shared Equity provider and the owner can be calculated.

Current property market valuations, which can include reinstatement valuations (where requested and reflected in the fee) for individual use.

A market valuation report is a formal assessment of a building undertaken by a professional, certified valuer. It considers a number of key factors (either related directly to the property or to data about the general, local area) to estimate the current market value.

HMRC compliant valuation reports for Solicitors, Executors of Estates, Trustees etc.

When someone dies and leaves a will, at least one person is typically named executor to administer their estate. They may have to apply for a grant of probate, the official document required for assets to be legally transferred.

Any property involved will always need to be valued for probate, even if it isn’t being sold.

That value is taken as the open market value at the date of transfer – usually that’s the date of death of the deceased. Getting a Chartered Surveyor to do a valuation for probate will mean the property is not over-valued, which could reduce the liability for inheritance tax. Equally, HMRC is far more likely to accept a professional valuation.

Many leaseholders have the right to extend their leases by a further 90 years. It is worth considering extending your lease if the remaining term is less than 80 years as this can often make a property more difficult to sell or to secure a mortgage.

Qualifying leaseholders have been legally entitled to extend their lease since 1993. To do this, you must have owned the lease for at least two years, either as an individual or through a company. An extension is usually for 90 years and reduces ground rent to a peppercorn sum.

You can also sell your right to a lease extension to anyone buying your home, getting them out of the two year qualifying period. A formal legal notice will need to be served on the Freeholder and any intermediate landlords.

This type of valuation is rather specialised, and takes into account the property’s market value, the value of the landlord’s interest in terms of ground rent and so on and the difference between the two, known as the “marriage value”. Only an experienced professional is qualified to undertake this kind of survey.

Leaseholders have the right, upon qualification, to force the sale of the freehold of their building, or part of their building, and purchase it collectively.

Even if you have 80 years left to run on your lease, it could make the property hard to sell. An enfranchisement, or the process of buying a property’s freehold, offers several benefits including greater control of the management of your building, and potentially doing more to satisfy your mortgage lenders’ needs.

The “qualifying tenants” must own at least two thirds of the flats in a building, and the leases must have original terms of at least 21 years.

If a building has four flats or fewer, and a “resident landlord”, tenants are not eligible for enfranchisement. A valuation for enfranchisement calculates the value of a freehold or share of a freehold to an existing leaseholder. This is a specialised job which needs to be undertaken by experienced Chartered Surveyor with detailed knowledge of this type of valuation.

Cost of reinstatement valuations for houses and blocks of flats.

This lets you know how much you should insure your home for in the event of damage from flooding, fire or other danger. It covers the complete demolition and rebuilding of the property, and all professional fees involved, although not the value of the land.

Building costs can vary considerably over time and are not linked to the property’s value. So, it makes sense to have a periodic insurance valuation to make sure you are not under or over-covered by your building insurance.

If you are over-insured, and you make a claim, your insurer will only pay up to the cost of true reinstatement, and not for the whole sum insured. If you are under-insured, on the other hand, any payments may be confined to the sum insured. An old building, for example, should be covered for the full cost of reinstatement, which may well be more than the property’s sale value.