Virtual Conference: Current Residential Property Issues 2020

Late 2019 and early 2020 has proven to be one of the most challenging years for the valuation functions in the major lenders. This presentation will cover the issues faced from the banking side of the fence; from the escalating cladding crisis, Brexit uncertainty and the ravages of Covid-19 and its associated lockdown.

• Cladding – How did it come to this?
• Cladding – The development and release of EWS1
• Cladding – The moving goalpost and industry challenges/response
• Brexit – The impact on the housing market
• Covid-19 – Lockdown just as the market takes off again
• Covid-19 – The challenge of desk top valuations
• Covid-19 – Coming out of Lockdown
• Covid-19 – What the market did next

Fiona Haggett, Head of Valuation, Barclays UK

At the time of writing, a significant proportion of residential practitioners are beginning to carry out physical inspections of residential property. Health and safety procedures have been hurriedly written and PPE ordered (where available). Although the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, RICS and other professional bodies have produced official guidance there is a lack of practical detail to help practitioners who have to go into occupied property and carry out these inspections. This session will:

• Review the current guidance including the latest updates
• Outline the developing practice and describe what practitioners are doing now
• Propose practical inspections that both protects health and provides clients with a useful service

Phil Parnham, Director, Bluebox Partners

Free water is the primary cause of the deterioration of principal building components and ultimately construction failure. Regardless of whether investigating the total structural collapse of timber elements or a bit of mould on a bathroom ceiling, free or excess water will almost certainly be the primary or a contributing factor. Detecting the presence of free water, understanding why it’s there and seeing the implications of its existence, is often far more important than measuring precisely how much water is there. The presentation will take us through a pragmatic and robust view of moisture detection and diagnostics carried out on site by building professionals. This talk will:-

• Challenge some common misconceptions on the use of moisture meters
• Look at what “damp” really is
• Look at why measuring total water content can sometimes be misleading
• Think about the importance of atmospheric moisture imbalance
• Look at how we should assess and consider moisture imbalance
• Discuss how we direct measures to control condensation that are bespoke to the occupant and the building

Steve Hodgson, CEO, Property Care Association

From 1990s to present day This talk will identify the most recurring defects in modern housing and look at practical aspects of costs and methods of repair. Defects to be addressed will include flooring screeds, insulation, mechanical ventilation, fire separation, Japanese Knotweed, retrospective cavity wall insulation and solar panels.

• Identifies the most recurring defects in modern housing
• For each defect a case study
• Potential costs and methods of repairs
• Methods of inspection and analysis
• Limitations to inspections
• Drawing conclusions from visual evidence
• How to structure conclusions without reverting heavily to caveats

Geoffrey Hunt, Chartered Building Surveyor and Principal, Geoffrey Hunt Building Surveying Services

Before the corona virus took centre stage, climate change was the global emergency everyone worried about. A number of governments were planning dramatic policy adjustments and many of these would have affected the residential world. But the problem of climate change still remains. This session will focus on how changing weather patterns are affecting the residential buildings we assess. Increasing winds, rising sea levels and once in a 100 year floods that occur annually are beginning to affect buildings that have previously happily coexisted with the local environment. This talk will:

• Describe some of the climatic changes affecting buildings this country
• Identify the most important agents of deterioration (for example, wind and rain)
• Apply a diagnostic protocol that can help identify vulnerable features
• Give guidance on writing appropriate reports for clients

Phil Parnham, Director, Bluebox Partners

Phil Parnham will provide an update on RICS’s Home Survey Standard and review current developments. Phil Parnham, Director, Bluebox Partners

5.00 pm CLOSE OF PROCEEDINGS