A RICS Level 2 Home Survey may suit conventional construction in reasonable condition. Discuss an older, unusual or substantially altered property, or plans for major work, before choosing the level. Compare the Level 3 brief for Putney.
Putney Embankment evidence: shop terraces, houses and mansion flats
For a Putney enquiry, locate the purchase as a whole house, an upper home on a shopping frontage or a unit in a mansion building. Show its relationship to any common roof, entrance and rear space. The riverside address is context; the inspection brief still needs identifiable rooms, components and access arrangements.
Wandsworth’s Putney Embankment appraisal distinguishes High Street shop terraces, the houses of Ruvigny Gardens and later mansion-flat blocks. These named examples explain different residential forms within the riverside conservation setting. They provide historical context for a purchase enquiry, rather than a single construction description or a finding of flood damage across Putney.
A house drawing should identify its original footprint and additions. For a mansion flat, locate the unit within the shared building; for accommodation over a shop, identify the separate residential approach. Use the relevant form when requesting the purchase papers.
The Putney Embankment examples distinguish houses, mansion flats and upper homes over shops. For a Level 2 enquiry, identify the form containing the actual purchase and give its own plan and entrance details. A whole house needs its additions and alteration history identified; a mansion flat needs its block and common-envelope records; an upper home needs its relationship to other uses explained. Conventional construction in reasonable condition may suit Level 2, while substantial changes, unusual fabric or a complex unresolved concern can make Level 3 or additional advice appropriate.
Map the mansion unit against the common envelope
For a Putney mansion-flat purchase, ask for a plan showing the unit’s position beside the courtyard, main entrance and roof areas mentioned in the enquiry. Obtain the actual description of any common-building repair offered as reassurance. Its scope may concern a different wing or elevation from the one beside the flat.
Ask the managing agent to identify which spaces can be opened for the agreed inspection. Keep the flat’s own window or bathroom papers separate from the common-roof programme. The solicitor can advise on maintenance responsibility using the lease; the physical brief should describe the components and access still in question.
Ask which roof, external wall or opening each work account concerns. A repair to a shop projection may not cover the main roof, and a programme for one part of a mansion building may not describe the element relevant to the unit. Keep proposed work, completed repairs and earlier investigations as distinct records. The riverside setting is not evidence of flood damage or a particular cause for a symptom. The purchased address requires its own history and accessible observations.
Match a garden-house extension with its approved layout
For a Ruvigny Gardens-side house enquiry, distinguish the original back rooms from a later garden addition on the available drawing. Identify an enlarged wall opening, changed kitchen threshold or roof connection by project date. If sale particulars combine several improvements, request the papers for each rather than assuming one completion record covers them all.
Show any lower accommodation on a section with the garden level. Attach reported water entry to the affected room and the dated investigation, without assigning a cause from proximity to the Thames. Ask which views or documents are missing before the buyer relies on a recent renovation account.
For leasehold premises, obtain the management and planned-work information and ask the solicitor to examine legal and financial responsibility. Agree any entry through common or separately occupied spaces that the proposed inspection needs and record restrictions honestly. A survey of the home does not certify every concealed part of the larger building. If a major refurbishment, new extension or wider investigation is central to the purchase, state that objective before selecting the service. The written quotation should distinguish the proportionate condition assessment from any further design, approval or specialist brief.
Keep upper-home records distinct from the High Street business
Where the purchased dwelling occupies a shop terrace, label the stair entrance, upper rooms and any rear projection used by another occupier. Request the available drawings for changes beneath the accommodation, distinguishing those from a retail fascia or fit-out. The address and unit named on the record should match the purchase.
Ask who can provide access to the particular shared stair or back roof raised in the brief. An invoice for work inside the commercial premises should be connected to the residential question only when its scope identifies the relevant component. Unavailable access should be recorded before an appointment is scoped.
Level 2 fees for Putney
Home Survey questions for Putney
Does the Putney Embankment appraisal describe all SW15 homes?
The cited passage distinguishes named High Street, Ruvigny Gardens and mansion-block forms within its conservation setting. It supplies context for those examples, while the bought property needs its own description and records.
Which mansion-block repair information should be requested?
Ask for the wing, elevation or roof area covered by the works statement and locate the flat relative to it. Establish which common parts the managing agent can make accessible for the agreed scope.
What makes a garden-extension file useful?
Draw the old back rooms, enlarged opening and garden-level connection, with a date for each project. Link any reported water entry to its actual room and investigation instead of assigning a riverside cause.
Can a High Street fit-out invoice explain the upper dwelling?
Only where the work description identifies the component raised in the residential enquiry. Keep retail finishes separate from structural openings, residential stairs and rear-roof records.
Local evidence: Wandsworth: Putney Embankment Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy; RICS home survey guide.
Content updated: October 2026.