Choose the report for the Lewisham 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.
Lewisham Park evidence: villa groups and later blocks
Lewisham’s appraisal, adopted in June 2019, distinguishes Victorian and Edwardian houses from the park’s later tower blocks. Its built-form account describes the three-storey paired villas at 15–30, then two-storey Edwardian pairs with attic accommodation and the detached houses at 43–44. It records differences in bays, gables, entrances and roofs between these groups. This is the Lewisham Park conservation setting.
Use the actual address and floor plan to establish which form contains the purchase. A flat within a villa and one in a separate block need their own building references. Do not extend the appraisal’s house description to every SE13 home.
Lewisham building stock and property types
Lewisham’s stock is dominated by late-Victorian and Edwardian terraces and villas — the Ladywell streets and the Lewisham Park and Belmont villas — much of it now converted to flats, the older, solid-walled fabric a Level 3 survey is built for.
The late-Victorian suburban terraces developed by Samuel Jerrard in the 1880s and 90s around Vicars Hill, Algernon and Ermine Roads, with Edwardian shops on Ladywell Road — the Ladywell conservation area.
The large 1880s Victorian and Edwardian villas around the open space of Lewisham Park, in the Lewisham Park conservation area, higher-value stock where defects are costly to put right.
The Edwardian houses of the Belmont conservation area around Belmont Hill and Belmont Park, some by the architect Reginald Fry.
Period houses subdivided into flats, where shared roofs, drainage and structure affect the individual home and past alterations need checking.
Conservation areas, listed buildings and alteration risk
Lewisham has several conservation areas in SE13, including Ladywell, designated in 2010 to protect the late-Victorian Jerrard streets and Edwardian shops, Lewisham Park, covering the Victorian and Edwardian villas around the park, and Belmont around Belmont Hill; the grander streets on the Blackheath side, including Granville Park, fall within the large Blackheath Conservation Area rather than a separate designation. These conservation areas carry Article 4 directions that remove permitted-development rights for changes visible from public viewpoints — windows, doors, roof alterations, chimneys, front boundary walls, front-garden paving and exterior painting on houses in single-family use — so those works need planning permission, though many rear alterations may still be permitted. For a Lewisham Park villa, separate roof enlargement and bay work from interior refurbishment in the purchase file. Attach the available drawings and decisions to each project.
Establish the purchased address’s boundary and work-specific controls with Lewisham, alongside the solicitor’s title and lease checks.
For a Lewisham Park purchase, give the house number or block name and identify the bought floors. The local record distinguishes Victorian villas, Edwardian houses and later towers. Locate the property within that setting before providing its extension history, common-element records and available inspection access.
Identify the paired entrance and bought stair
For one of the paired Lewisham Park villas, show the street-facing entrance, hall and stair in relation to the neighbouring half. If the purchase is a conversion flat, mark its internal door and occupied levels. Identify any entrance space that is managed jointly.
Ask for the plan used when the house was subdivided, followed by later room or stair changes. Relate a repair account to the bought half or an expressly shared component. An invoice for the adjoining house should state its connection to this purchase before it enters the technical brief.
Locate attic accommodation within the Edwardian roof
If a Lewisham enquiry concerns rooms under an Edwardian roof, obtain a section showing the stair head, sloping ceilings and dormer positions. Identify the covering around the accommodation and any remaining void. Attach available roof-enlargement drawings to the room layout they created.
Request dated records for altered chimneys or roof junctions separately from internal decoration. For a divided house, identify who can open the relevant roof space. A management description of recent roof work should name the slope and elements covered, leaving unanswered components visible in the enquiry.
Keep a later tower’s documents with its named building
Where the purchase is in a Lewisham Park block, provide its unit, floor and entrance core rather than applying nearby villa details. Identify the common wall, roof or balcony component that matters to the home. Ask for the works schedule and completion information for that building.
Put the flat’s internal changes in a separate chronology. If a communal-space investigation is requested, state the place and the access contact; it needs a defined scope. Supply the lease and management information to the solicitor for responsibility and cost questions alongside the technical enquiry.
Match the Lewisham Park record to the correct building group
A villa enquiry and an enquiry for a flat in a later block need different starting documents. For the villa, show any subdivision and changed stair or roof arrangement; for the block, identify the unit, common fabric and managing contact. Avoid using one building group's description to fill gaps in another's construction file. These details inform the Level 2 or Level 3 discussion. Where a single leak or altered opening is the immediate concern, explain that narrower question separately from the decision to purchase the accommodation.
Lewisham building survey questions
Does Lewisham Park have a single documented housing form?
The 2019 appraisal distinguishes Victorian pairs, Edwardian houses and later towers. Use the house number or block reference to identify the subject building.
What helps explain a flat in a paired villa?
Mark its entrance, serving stair and occupied floors against the neighbouring half. Include the conversion layout and identify any expressly shared repair component.
Which papers help with Edwardian attic accommodation?
Relate roof-enlargement plans to the current rooms and covering. Record slopes, chimney changes and the contact for inaccessible roof spaces.
Should nearby villa details be used for a tower-flat enquiry?
Name the actual tower and unit, and obtain its own common-element works records. Define any requested communal-space investigation separately.
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Content updated: October 2026.