It is a myth that you cannot have a survey carried out in France or other countries in Europe such as Spain or Switzerland...The only limitation is that there are very few surveyors in these countries, the ones that there are, being UK Surveyors who have moved over and operate in some of the regions.
Some Estate agents will try and dissuade you from having a survey carried out for fear of losing a sale, but going into a purchase with the confidence of knowing of any defect and the methods of tackling it, enables you to budget for repairs or alterations to the structure. Thus it makes sense for MKN Surveyors to do your surveying work and will give you confidence in moving forward with the purchase.
We carry out full Building Surveys in France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Portugal. The only limitation are the logistics in getting to the property.
We have experience in building surveying properties from large Chateau, Medieval houses, and newer properties such as those from the 1970’s and 1980’s, and apartments in Paris, Nice and Geneva. We also do single defects for when you just have a single defect to have inspected by an experienced Building Surveyor (e.g. cracking and subsidence). Need a valuation? We are RICS registered valuers.
Surveys are the RICS Level 3 Surveys. We do not recommend having the Level 1 or 2 Surveys carried out as inevitably any problems are interconnected.
Surveys are carried out within the same time scale as any UK work, so in busy periods there may be up to a 1 month wait, normally the time frame is 2 weeks. Thus plan ahead if you intend on having a survey done so we can book you in within a reasonable time frame. Thus the survey will be carried out before the end of any cooling off period and before you are contractually tied into buying the property.
Click on the Survey Cover to download and example PDF Report
Of course other chartered surveyors are available. Make sure they are a Chartered Building Surveyor, and not another type of surveyor (there are lots of types of surveyor, not all are experienced in Building defects), and that they are regulated by RICS which means they have the required Professional Indemnity Insurance.
If you need a Building Survey report in another language other than English, we can have reports translated into the language of your choice (for a fee).
On all surveys, all you have to do is send over details of the property from the agents web site, or photos you have taken and location and we will send over a quote. Once this is agreed we will contact the vendor or Estate agent and arrange the Building Survey. Your report is emailed back to you within 5 working days of the survey being carried out, sooner if possible. Ask for an example report or follow the link here to an example : Download sample report.
We can also carry out other surveys such as Valuations for Matrimonial Matters or Probate.
Another service we offer is project management on work in the Alps, Niçe or in the area up to 2–3 hours from Cordes sur Ciel (Department 81) in the Tarn.
