Level 2 Homebuyers Survey in Wandsworth

A Wandsworth purchase brief should name the street and dwelling arrangement rather than rely on a borough-wide description. Indicate the house footprint or flat boundary, back access and any connection to commercial accommodation. This makes the requested papers specific enough to distinguish terrace alterations from work elsewhere in SW18.

Wandsworth’s Old York Road appraisal, adopted on 31 August 2023, describes its residential character area as short parallel streets made up almost entirely of two-storey brick terraces. The document distinguishes this domestic grid from the shopping frontage. It is a named local example, not a description of every home in Wandsworth or proof of a particular terrace’s present condition.

For a purchase in that setting, identify the original front and back rooms before considering the seller’s extension account. Accommodation over a shop should instead be located within its own frontage and entrance arrangement.

For an Old York Road-side home, distinguish the residential terrace from the shopping frontage before using the local record. Show the exact house or flat, its current entrance and the accommodation included in the purchase. Known rear additions, loft changes and internal rearrangements should appear in the enquiry with their available drawings. A conventional dwelling in reasonable condition can be suitable for Level 2, but substantial alteration or complex construction may justify Level 3. The short-terrace description does not establish that every property retains an original plan.

For an Old York Road-side terrace enquiry, use the available plan to show the former rear wall, added kitchen space and route into the garden. Identify whether a changed opening, roof connection and garden threshold belong to the same project. One continuous finished floor can conceal several phases in the paperwork.

Request the drawing or completion record for the alteration actually raised by the purchaser. Keep window-replacement invoices separate from evidence about an enlarged structural opening. Where an earlier layout is missing, state that gap before relying on a general description of the house as extended and refurbished.

If a rear opening has changed, identify the work and the rooms it connects rather than supplying a general refurbishment description. Request records for the particular project and distinguish decorative finishes from support or roof alterations. A repair to the original terrace roof should not be treated as an account for a later extension covering without that connection. Supply any component-specific investigation and explain whether relevant roof, side-passage or garden access is available.

Ask a terrace seller to identify which roof slope, gutter run or rear junction appears in a repair account. Put that position beside any reported internal staining and its date. A contractor’s visit to one end of the roof does not, by its title alone, describe work across the whole covering.

Show the relevant garden boundary and access strip on the enquiry sketch. If another occupier controls the view needed for an agreed inspection, establish the arrangement in advance. Keep drainage findings connected to the route they investigated, with any unexamined stretch left explicit in the purchase file.

A flat above commercial accommodation needs the unit and any shared entrance, roof or external wall identified separately from the business. Ask who can authorise the views or access needed for the agreed residential inspection. The survey does not automatically include another occupier's premises or operational systems. Where the purchase concerns a different Wandsworth building form, use its own construction and management records rather than importing the Old York Road example.

Where the purchase is above an Old York Road-area shop, identify the residential stair, bought floor and any rear space used by the business. Request the records for changes beneath the home where they concern the buyer’s question. A retail refurbishment may have no bearing on a common wall or the residential roof.

Ask which available document shows the division between the premises and the dwelling. Record any shared entrance or concealed connection as a specific scope question. The physical plan should sit alongside the solicitor’s advice about the lease and responsibility, with access limits understood before the visit is arranged.

For leasehold accommodation, obtain current maintenance and proposed major-works information and have the solicitor examine responsibilities and charges. The written survey scope should identify the physical limits and any further question needing evidence. If the buyer plans major changes, say so before instruction so existing-condition advice, targeted diagnosis and design work can be considered as distinct tasks. The locality guide cannot approve an alteration or certify work hidden by the seller's recent redecoration.