Estate Agents – Our Friends On The High Street

Many of us have, at some point in our lives, sold a house and will typically have employed an estate agent to market the property and then guide us through the sale process. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always run smoothly, a not uncommon hurdle being the highlighting of a structural problem following a survey.

Common problems include foundation movement, which can be caused by a range of issues such as subsidence of the site and leaking drains. Floors or roofs may have been affected by rot or woodworm, or it may be that structural alterations have been made to the property without properly considering the consequences. If such a problem is identified, a structural engineer’s report is usually essential for the transaction to proceed, and a good estate agent will work hard in their role as ‘go-between’ to smooth the way towards a speedy, and hopefully successful, conclusion.

It is important to have employed an estate agent who understands the ‘ins and outs’ of a structural report – its significance and how to get a high quality one as speedily as possible. At Structural Engineers Reports we work hard to nurture good relationships with our local estate agent colleagues, keeping in touch with them, liaising clearly and in a timely manner. To improve this process, new for 2020 is our SER bulletin, sent out periodically to local Estate Agents to foster, develop and maintain good working relationships which will, in turn, enhance the service we provide to our mutual clients. We hope that our ethos of good communication and collaboration ensures efficient and effective solutions to often unexpected, and potentially deal-breaking structural problems.