Inspection

Question 1

1. What are you looking for in an inspection?

Answer 1

a. Surrounding area consideration (amenities, transport, hazards etc)
b. External inspection
c. Internal inspection

Question 2

2. What internal features do you note?

Answer 2

a. Layout
b. Spec
c. Defects
d. Repairs and condition
e. Fixtures and fittings
f. Statutory compliance

Question 3

3. What external features do you note?

Answer 3

a. Construction
b. Condition and repairs
c. Parking and access
d. Roof and windows
e. Defects

Question 4

4. What preparation do you need to do before inspecting?

Answer 4

a. Transport options
b. Is PPE required?
c. Is there any potential hazards
d. Am I meeting someone?

Question 5

5. Tell me about surveying safely?

Answer 5

a. Safe person’ concept – Individuals assume responsibility for their own and colleagues health and safety at work
b. Assessing and managing hazards and risks
c. Workplace health and safety
d. Occupational hygiene and health – hazardous substances, work related stress, violence, mental health etc
e. Visiting premises or sites – assess hazards and risks before visiting
f. Fire safety
g. Procurement and management of contractors – check they are competent and provide relevant info about the property to them before they commence work

Question 6

7. Why did you inspect a 10% sample?

Answer 6

a. Scope of our instructions
b. Portfolios such as this are too large to inspect 100% internally

Question 7

8. How do you age a property?

Answer 7

a. Ask client
b. Research planning history
c. Research architects plans
d. Research local records
e. Tell by architectural style
f. Some buildings have it on their external walls
g. Ask residents

Question 8

9. What hazards might you see on an inspection?

Answer 8

a. Japanese Knotweed
b. Contamination
c. Squatters
d. Machinery
e. Even just aggressive tenants

Question 9

10. What do you do if you see squatters?

Answer 9

a. Abort inspection
b. Inform client
c. Squatting is illegal so tell them to get legal advice

Question 10

17. What did you take with you?

Answer 10

a. Camera (phone)
b. Fully charged phone to take notes
c. PPE – hard hat, steel toe cap boots and high vis
d. Plans provided by client

Question 11

22. What fire safety questions did you ask?

Answer 11

a. Do these units have external cladding or balconies or curtain wall glazing?
b. How many floors is the building?
c. What type of cladding is there, if it is present?
d. Do you have up to date FRAs?
e. Please provide EWS1 grades and copies of the form
f. What are the cost estimates if remedials are required?

Question 12

30. What are latent defects?

Answer 12

a. A defect discovered through a thorough inspection

Question 13

31. What are inherent defects?

Answer 13

a. A defect in design or material that has always been present

Question 14

32. For what purposes would you inspect a property?

Answer 14

a. Valuation (Valuation influencers)
b. Property management (policing the lease)
c. Agency (marketability issues)

Question 15

33. What are FOUR common forms of foundation (the choice depends on ground conditions and building loadings required):

Answer 15

a. Trench or strip footings – used for residential dwellings, for walls and closely spaced columns
b. Raft – a slab foundation over the whole site to spread the load for lightweight structures such as for made up/remediated land and sandy soil conditions
c. Piles – Long and slender reinforced concrete cylinders in the ground used when ground conditions are less good for load-bearing
d. Pad – Slab foundation system under individual or groups of columns so that the column load is spread evenly

Question 16

34. What is efflorescence?

Answer 16

a. White marks caused by hydroscopic salts in the brick work
b. Forms when water reacts with natural salts that are within the construction material and mortar
c. The water dissolves the salts, which are carried out and deposited onto the surface by evaporation when air meets the surface of the wall

Question 17

35. What is spalling?

Answer 17

a. Damaged brickwork where the surface of the brick crumbles due to freeze/thaw action, after it has become saturated in the winter months

Question 18

36. What types of movement are there?

Answer 18

a. Subsidence
b. Vertical downward movement of a building foundation caused by the loss of support of the site beneath the foundation
c. Could be as a result of changes in the underlying ground conditions
d. Heave
e. Expansion of the ground beneath the building
f. Could be caused by tree removal and build up of moisture in the soil

Question 19

37. What do you do if you find squatters?

Answer 19

a. Abort inspection
b. Inform client
c. Advise they get legal advice and speak to police

Question 20

38. What do you do when inspecting a vacant property?

Answer 20

a. Surveying safely says wear PPE where necessary and practice good personal hygiene to avoid infection or contamination

Question 21

39. What are the types of contamination?

Answer 21

a. Heavy metals
b. Radon
c. Methane gas
d. Diesel/oil/chemicals

Question 22

40. What are the types of damp?

Answer 22

a. Wet rot
b. Dry rot
c. Rising damp
d. Condensation
e. damp caused by flooding/leak

Question 23

Tell me about wet rot

Answer 23

i. Caused by damp and timber decay
ii. Signs include wet and soft timber, a high damp meter reading, visible fungal growth, and a musty smell

Question 24

Tell me about dry rot

Answer 24

i. Caused by an inside fungal attack
ii. Sings include fungus (mycelium – which spreads across wood in fine and fluffy white strands and large, orange mushroom-like fruiting bodies), a strong smell and red spores, cracking paintwork and crumbling of dry timber
iii. Can destroy timber and masonry

Question 25

Tell me about rising damp

Answer 25

i. Stops around 1.5m above ground level ii. Caused by bodies of water or leaks

Question 26

Tell me about condensation

Answer 26

i. Caused by lack of ventilation and background heating ii. Signs include mould, and streaming water on the inside of window or walls

Question 27

41. What are the dimensions of a brick?

Answer 27

a. 21.5 x 10.25 x 6.5 cm

Question 28

42. What is ACM cladding?

Answer 28

a. Aluminium Composite Material b. Two thin aluminium sheets bonded by a non-aluminium core c. Illegal following Grenfell

Question 29

43. What is MCM cladding?

Answer 29

a. Metal Composite Material panels bonded with a polyethylene core b. Banned on external walls of residential buildings taller than 18 metres

Question 30

44. What is HPL cladding?

Answer 30

a. High pressure laminate panels manufactured by layering sheets of wood or paper fibre with a resin and bonding them together with heat b. Banned on external walls of residential buildings taller than 18 metres

Question 31

45. What are deleterious materials?

Answer 31

a. Deleterious materials are materials that can degrade with age causing structural problems. These include: i. High alumina cement ii. Woodwool shuttering iii. Calcium chloride b. Signs to detect deleterious materials include: i. Brown staining on concrete, concrete frame buildings, 1960s and 1970s buildings, and modern buildings

Question 32

46. What is a hazardous material?

Answer 32

a. A material that is harmful to health b. Includes asbestos, lead piping/paint, radon gas c. When present, recommend specialist reports and make appropriate assumptions in advice d. Always check contents of an asbestos report/register

Question 33

47. What is disposal of water?

Answer 33

a. When surface water runs off into the water course, such as a soak away or storm drain b. When foul water drains from soil pipes into a sewerage system

Question 34

48. What is Japanese Knotweed?

Answer 34

a. An invasive plant which can damage hard surfaces such as foundations and tarmac b. It is not easy to control, costly to eradicate and a specialist company must remove and dispose of it c. It causes great concern to property lenders who may refuse a loan if it is nearby, or present, on a property d. Looks purple/green hollow stemmed with green leaves e. It has to be disposed of legally using chemical treatment, digging it out and removing it from site to a licensed landfill site in accordance with Environmental Protection Act 1990 f. Development can start 3 years after the lost knotweed has been removed

Question 35

49. RICS Professional Standard – Japanese Knotweed and Residential Property, 2022

Answer 35

a. Contains a decision tree based on risk level to help valuers determine the appropriate management approach needed for Japanese Knotweed

Question 36

50. Punishments for Japanese Knotweed

Answer 36

a. Allowing JK to spread is a criminal offence under Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. b. Unlimited fine and 2 year imprisonment

Question 37

Is there RICS guidance on contamination?

Answer 37

- RICS Guidance Note Environmental Risks and Global Real Estate,1st edition 2018 1. Aims to provide guidance to chartered surveyors who are not specialists in environmental considerations 2. Gives guidance on contamination, flooding, environmental risks, high voltage power lines and asbestos and the importance of these on valuation

Question 38

According to the Red book, what is the main purpose of an investigation?

Answer 38

- To produce a valuation that is professionally adequate for its purpose

Question 39

Any RICS guidance that can help you identify cladding whilst on inspection?

Answer 39

- Cladding for surveyors RICS Guidance Note, 1st edition, March 2021 - Shows types of cladding systems and types of external wall systems on flats

Question 40

Tell me about Japanese knotweed?

Answer 40

a. Fast growing invasive plant species that can cause damage to properties b. RICS Guidance Note covers identification, management and treatment c. It has bamboo-like stems that are hollow and filled with reddish-purple nodes d. The leaves of Japanese knotweed are large, broadly ovate or triangular in shape e. Japanese knotweed produces small, creamy-white flowers that are arranged in long, upright clusters called panicles f. Treatment may include physical removal, chemical treatment, or a combination of methods g. The punishments can include fines or even imprisonment h. Property owners have a legal responsibility to manage and control Japanese knotweed on their land to prevent its spread to neighbouring properties