RICS Homebuyer Survey in Swansea

Buying in Swansea, on the Gower, or in the towns that sit between the city and the coast is not the same as buying a new estate house in an inland suburb. Weather, older construction, and a long history of alteration all show up in a survey. A lender’s valuation will not unpack those issues for you. A RICS home survey will.

The Welsh Surveying Co inspects houses, bungalows and flats across Swansea and the surrounding area. We offer RICS Home Survey Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 (building survey) and we will tell you, before you instruct, which level fits the building you are buying — not which level is easiest to sell.

Book a survey or write to lydia@thewelshsurveyingco.co.uk.

Housing in Swansea and the Gower

The city’s Victorian and Edwardian terraces — Uplands, Brynmill, St Thomas, parts of Sketty and the seafront streets — share the usual Welsh-city problems: solid walls, original joinery, roofs that have seen several generations of covering, and basements or lower-ground rooms that were never designed as dry living space. Many have been split into flats. The quality of those conversions varies widely, and a survey is often the first time anyone has looked at the roof, the gutters and the shared structure with a buyer’s interests in mind.

Twentieth-century housing in Sketty, Killay, West Cross, Morriston and the northern suburbs is more conventional: cavity walls, concrete tiles, later extensions. Conventional does not mean risk-free. Cavity-wall insulation, poorly detailed conservatories, ageing boilers and flat-roof additions are common findings. Level 2 is often the right product here, unless the house has been heavily altered.

The Gower and the western villages are a different brief again. Stone cottages, rendered coastal houses, agricultural conversions and homes that sit in exposed positions take more weather than an inland terrace. Salt, wind-driven rain, and roofs that are difficult to access all matter. If the building is listed, or sits in a conservation area, or has a thatched or unusual roof, a Level 3 building survey is usually the honest recommendation. Our note on buying a stone cottage in Wales is written for exactly this stock.

Former industrial and dockside areas around the city have their own history: made ground, later infill, and buildings that have changed use. We cannot magic away a site’s past, but we can report what is visible and flag where further specialist advice is prudent.

Choosing Level 1, 2 or 3

Match the survey to the building, not to the asking price.

Choose Level 1 only for a conventional property in apparently good condition, where you need a concise condition report rather than repair advice.

Choose Level 2 for a typical house or bungalow of straightforward construction — the majority of suburban Swansea purchases. It is more detailed than Level 1 and comments on defects and likely maintenance.

Choose Level 3 for older stone, listed buildings, complex conversions, houses with a long alteration history, or where you plan significant works. It is the building survey, and it is supposed to take longer on site and on the page.

Still deciding? Which RICS survey do you need? and our compare reports page set out the differences without sales language. And if your solicitor or broker has suggested that the mortgage valuation will “cover it”, read why a valuation is not a survey.

What the inspection involves

We inspect what we can reasonably see and reach. Roofs and chimneys from the ground and from any accessible loft; walls and openings; floors and stairs; visible services; the site and outbuildings. We do not carry out destructive investigation. If a roof space is boarded over, a hatch is missing, or personal effects block a room, the report will say so. That is not a cop-out; it is how a professional survey is scoped. What a RICS home survey covers — and what it does not is worth reading before you instruct, so the report does not surprise you.

Flats in converted houses and in purpose-built blocks need the lease and, where available, information on planned works and service charges. We can only inspect the demise and the common parts we are given access to.

Instructing a survey in Swansea

Send the estate-agent particulars, the address, and a note of anything you already worry about — a crack, a smell of damp, a neighbour’s extension on the boundary — to lydia@thewelshsurveyingco.co.uk. Or book online.

We also cover Cardiff and the Vale and North Wales. Wherever the house is, the job is the same: an independent look at the building before you commit.