Choose the report for the Bickley decision
Choose according to construction, alterations, condition and the purpose of your instruction.
- RICS Level 2 Home Survey — a conventional home in reasonable condition, without significant complexity.
- RICS Level 3 Building Survey — an older, altered, unusual or complex home needing a fuller investigation of condition.
- Specific defect investigation — a defined concern such as damp, cracking or water ingress.
- Pre-acquisition commercial building survey — condition and technical risk for a commercial purchase or lease.
Send the address, plans and your concerns so the proposed service, inspection limits and fee can be confirmed before instruction.
Bickley evidence: spacious plots and differing development periods
Bromley’s Urban Design Guide, adopted in July 2023, describes large dwellings on spacious plots in the Bickley conservation setting, with Arts and Crafts examples and a separate area of spacious inter-war housing. It also notes larger gardens and well-spaced properties. These observations distinguish building and plot contexts; they do not assign one construction method or designation to every Bickley house.
Identify the actual plot and building phase from current records. Locate later additions or replacement accommodation on the seller’s plan. A broad style label should be accompanied by the property’s own wall, roof and alteration information.
Recorded building forms
- Five Bickley purchase contexts that change the inspection
- Arts and Crafts-influenced houses
- Large detached period homes
- Spacious interwar development
- Extended and remodelled houses
- Later replacement or infill
Give each house range and roof its own project record
Where a Bickley home has several wings or coverings, outline them independently on the enquiry drawing. Name the range containing the bought rooms and any junction affected by earlier work. Put its construction or repair date beside the relevant footprint.
Ask which roof slope, outlet or support a restoration account describes. Keep finish treatment separate from drawings for changed openings and room connections. If a void or side elevation cannot be reached, list that limit rather than treating the house’s overall style as evidence for unseen parts.
Scope the plot as well as the house
Bickley's record describes large dwellings on spacious plots with several roof voids, lower-ground rooms and long garden boundaries. A condition instruction here allows time and access for that scale: each roof space, garage and outbuilding is either inspected or listed as unreached, and drives, walls and drainage runs are treated as part of the survey rather than an afterthought.
Interwar fabric with later layers
The recorded Area of Special Residential Character contains spacious interwar development where original cavity walls, bays and hipped roofs may now meet extensions and replacement coverings. The report establishes what is actually present at the junctions, because the weathering detail where a new roof meets an original wall is where repair liabilities tend to concentrate.
Appearance does not date a Bickley house
Arts and Crafts language has influenced modern housing here, so a tile-hung elevation is not proof of age. The record insists that cavity masonry, concrete floors, framed roofs and render systems be assessed on their own evidence, with warranties requested for newer work. The report states the construction actually observed and the documents that would settle what remains concealed.
Moisture readings are indicators, not verdicts
Basements, suspended-floor ventilation, internal humidity and service penetrations are recorded as a connected picture, and the record is explicit that meter readings are prompts to interpret rather than proof of one mechanism. Repair recommendations follow the supported explanation, which protects owners from paying for generic treatment that does not address the actual source.
Check the designation before pricing repairs
The borough maps two conservation areas and a separate local character designation in Bickley, and the record warns that neither a postal address nor visual similarity settles coverage. Because consent context can change how a repair is specified, the report identifies the live designation for the plot and keeps that check distinct from the physical findings.
Recorded inspection topics
- Roofs, stacks and high-level detail
- Walls, bays and applied finishes
- Floors, openings and internal change
- Lower ground, ventilation and services
- Levels, boundaries and drainage route
Identify the detached structure on a spacious plot
For a Bickley purchase with a garage, garden building or separate annexe, mark its relationship to the dwelling and boundary. State which structure’s condition is requested within the instruction. Obtain its own available construction and alteration papers.
If a drainage account describes several buildings, identify the route and component affecting the purchased accommodation. Have the solicitor consider title boundaries and responsibility where relevant. The physical brief should connect the particular structure, records and accessible surfaces to the buyer’s question.
Distinguish inter-war fabric from a later enlargement
For an inter-war Bickley house, put the original walls, later kitchen wing and enlarged openings on the current plan. Request drawings naming the support and connection introduced by each project. Date changes to roof rooms separately from decoration and fittings.
Locate any reported movement at the actual wall or junction, with its investigation history attached. A neighbouring Arts and Crafts house may have a different construction sequence. Explain missing paperwork and available side access so the enquiry follows the bought building’s own evidence.
Build an address-specific file for the house, wing and garden structures
If the Bickley purchase includes an enlarged house and separate plot buildings, prepare a drawing index that gives each part its own reference. Put the original house plan beside the later wing, with the link between their floors and coverings marked. Identify the garage or annexe requested in the brief rather than treating every structure visible in a sales photograph as included. Note which drawing describes foundations, an opening or a roof connection, and distinguish it from a layout prepared only for marketing.
For each project, ask the seller for the available design, construction and completion records with the property address attached. Match a repair invoice to the named room, wall face or roof slope before using it to explain a concern. A whole-house decoration account and a structural alteration drawing answer different questions. Where a document is missing, name the particular junction or component left unexplained so that the enquiry can set a proportionate inspection scope.
Keep the title plan and any agreement about a boundary structure with the solicitor's file. The technical brief can identify the structure's position and accessible faces without deciding legal ownership. List locked rooms, concealed connections and inaccessible outside surfaces separately. This makes the request about the bought Bickley building and the evidence available for it, rather than an assumed specification for every house on a spacious plot.
Bickley building survey questions
Does Bromley’s guide make every Bickley house one type?
It distinguishes spacious plots, Arts and Crafts examples and inter-war development. The exact building phase and alterations need current property records.
How should a multi-wing roof repair be described?
Name the range, slope and rainwater or support component covered, with its date. Keep decorative work distinct from papers for connections and openings.
Are detached plot buildings automatically part of the inspection?
Specify the garage, annexe or garden structure whose condition is requested, with its own records and access. Legal responsibility requires the relevant property documents.
Can nearby older-house records explain an inter-war enlargement?
Use the purchased house’s original wall line and dated extension drawings. Locate the actual changed opening and any unresolved junction or movement account.
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Content updated: October 2026.