Landmark News

FINE AND COUNTRY LAUNCH INNOVATIVE SURVEYING DEPARTMENT WITH LANDMARK

06 DECEMBER 2010

Award-winning prestige estate agent, Fine & Country, have broadened their offering by launching a Survey & Professional Services Department through association with the independent residential surveying company Landmark Chartered Surveyors.

 

This new move will provide specialist expertise in a closely-allied sector, employing a team of surveyors with coverage throughout England & Wales experienced in dealing with the age and quality of property in the upper quartile of the market. 

Fine & Country Chief Operating Officer Mike Bidwell said: “At Fine & Country, we recognise that surveyors are a crucial link in the chain, and are confident that Landmark’s expertise will help oil the wheels of a transaction, rather than causing it to stall”.

Statistics indicate that whilst across the whole of the market only around a quarter of buyers commission a Home Buyer Report or Full Building Survey, at the level of market in which Fine & Country operates, that figure is closer to 75%.

Steve Hardwick, Director of Landmark Chartered Surveyors said: “Our surveyors are accustomed to dealing with older and more challenging properties. For example, we know that when we step inside any Victorian house, it will have experienced some form of structural movement and will have suffered from dampness and/or woodworm or other timber decay. It is a question of degree and severity, and part of our skill set is to place defects in the correct and realistic context and communicate them properly so that buyers (and sellers) know where they stand.”

Fine & Country Survey & Professional Services, through Landmark, will also offer vendors a professional survey, which can be made accessible to a serious buyer, all written in a down-to-earth, plain English style.

Steve Hardwick added: “This means that from day one the vendor will know every detail about the house they want to sell – including factors which are both positive and negative. This kind of pre-emptive action can stop the problem of last-minute renegotiation, with any defects already identified and reflected in the sale price.”

Mike Bidwell agreed: “Ultimately, this new move is about proper communication. We want to ensure that all parties are kept well informed, to ensure that we can work together to produce the best outcome possible.”