Clear answers about the property that matters most.
Home surveys, RICS valuations, leasehold reform and party wall advice across London and the Home Counties — explained in plain English.
★★★★★ Rated 4.9 out of 5 from over 400 Google reviews · Regulated by RICS · ALEP members
400+ reviews
& the Home Counties
Four things, done properly.
Most clients arrive needing one of four things. Pick the closest and we'll point you to the right level of detail — scoped to your property, not one size fits all.
Home Surveys
RICS Level 2 and Level 3 home surveys that set out what's serious and what's urgent in plain English — followed by a call with your surveyor to talk through the findings and answer your questions, so you can renegotiate or buy with confidence.
- Drone roof & chimney inspection up to 7 storeys
- Complimentary solicitor's summary to speed your sale
Valuations
Red Book RICS valuations for probate, capital gains, divorce, Help to Buy, shared ownership and mansion tax — a defensible Market Value, justified in plain writing.
- Carried out by RICS Registered Valuers
- Expert witness & single-joint-expert work
Leasehold reform
Lease extension and freehold advice — buying or selling your freehold — that protects the value of your home, costed and clearly explained.
- ALEP member leasehold specialists
- Private and public-sector clients
Party Wall
Party Wall advice whether you're the building owner planning works or an adjoining owner affected by them — notices, awards and neighbours kept onside, in line with the Act.
- Acting for building and adjoining owners
- Clear, proportionate and Act-compliant
What makes a Websters home survey different.
We keep volumes deliberately modest, so every property gets unhurried attention.
Complimentary solicitor's report
A free solicitor's summary with every home survey — a concise briefing for your conveyancer that helps keep your purchase moving from an informed position.
Drones as standard
On home surveys, our CAA-licensed pilots fly roofs and chimneys up to seven storeys — included whenever weather and location allow.
Modest volumes
Around four to five home surveys a week per surveyor. Fewer jobs than a high-volume firm, more care, and a report you can actually act on.
A real conversation
Your surveyor calls you after the inspection to talk the report through — explaining the findings, putting any defects in context, answering your questions and setting out the practical next steps, all in plain English rather than jargon.
Why Websters valuations and leasehold reform advice are a step above.
When a figure has to stand up to HMRC, a court or a freeholder's or leaseholder's surveyor, the reasoning behind it matters as much as the number.
Figures that withstand scrutiny
Red Book valuations with our opinion of Market Value justified in writing — built to stand up to HMRC, the courts and tribunals.
Registered Valuers, not an agent's estimate
An independent, RICS-regulated opinion from a Registered Valuer — not a sales appraisal with an incentive attached.
Genuine leasehold specialists
As ALEP members, bespoke advice on lease extensions, collective enfranchisement and Section 5 — grounded in a clear understanding of your legal position and negotiated through to settlement, not just a figure on paper.
Expert-witness credibility
Our Directors have sat on an RICS expert working group, written RICS consumer guidance, and appeared at Public Inquiries, Tribunals and Courts.
Why our Party Wall advice is so helpful.
Clarity from the first notice
We explain your rights and obligations under the Party Wall Act in plain English — whether you're the building owner planning works or the adjoining owner affected by them.
Proportionate and neighbourly
Notices and awards that protect your position without turning a building project into a dispute — keeping things moving and neighbours onside.
Dan Knowles · FRICS
“We exist to empower our clients with clarity, confidence and peace of mind in their property decisions — making the complex simple, and guiding every client with expertise and care.”
Reports written in plain English — with the evidence behind them.
Every report complies with RICS professional standards — the Red Book for our valuations and the RICS Home Survey Standard for our surveys. We're always happy to explain our reasoning, because a report you don't understand isn't much use to you.
Three examples of our work — download a full sample report and see the standard for yourself.
Survey
The most comprehensive of the RICS suite of Home Surveys. See how we set out defects, repair options and priorities — and what they mean for you.
Download sample (PDF) →Valuation
A Red Book probate valuation. See how we evidence Market Value clearly enough to stand up to HMRC scrutiny.
Download sample (PDF) →Valuation
A leasehold reform valuation. See how we set out the premium and the reasoning behind every figure.
Download sample (PDF) →Across London and the Home Counties.
Our team covers nearly all of London, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and the surrounding counties — so a local surveyor is rarely far from your door.
Request a quote
Tell us what you need and we’ll ask only the questions that matter for it — then we’ll email you a clear, tailored quote within a few working hours.
Prefer to talk? Call 020 8017 1943.
Websters Surveyors – Quote Builder
What can we help with?
Choose a service — each one has its own short set of questions.
Valuation report
What’s the valuation for?
What is a Red Book valuation?
A formal RICS-regulated valuation, prepared by a qualified valuer to strict professional standards.
Valuation – tax
Which tax is it for?
Valuation – Help to Buy & Shared Ownership
Which scheme is it?
Valuation
The property
Valuation – probate
A few details about the estate
Only what HMRC needs us to know before we quote.
Valuation – shared ownership
About your share
Valuation – matrimonial
How should we set this up?
Valuation – Charities Act
About the charity
Valuation – Help to Buy
About the sale
Valuation – Capital Gains Tax
What date should the property be valued at?
Many CGT valuations are at a date in the past. Pick a common date, type your own, or leave it blank and we’ll value as at the date of our report.
Valuation
Anything we should know?
Lease extension
What’s your position?
Lease extension
Where have things got to?
Lease extension
The property
Freehold purchase & Section 5
What’s your position?
Freehold purchase & Section 5
Tell us about the building
Reinstatement Cost Assessment
The property
Something else
Tell us what you need
Last step
About you
We’ll email your tailored quote within a few working hours. Fields marked * are needed to progress.
Thank you — we’re on it
Your tailored quote will be emailed within a few working hours, and we’ll try to give you a call as well.
If we miss you, or you’d like to speak sooner, call us on 020 8017 1943. Just mention that you’ve entered your details through the website, and when, so we can find them quickly.
The property in an estate: an executor’s guide
We are sorry for your loss. Dealing with a home after someone has died is hard at any time, and harder while you are grieving. While your quote is on its way, this guide covers what to do about the property from the death to its sale or transfer. It is free to keep, whether or not you use us.
Looking after the property while it is empty
As executor you are responsible for the property until it is sold or passed on, so protect it from the first week.
- Insurance. Tell the insurer about the death straight away: most policies limit cover once a home is empty, and a claim can then fail.
- Security. Change or collect the keys, keep a list of who holds them, and make the property look lived in.
- Utilities. Read the meters on the day you take over. In winter, keep enough heating on to stop pipes freezing, or have the system drained.
- Post. Redirect it to yourself through Royal Mail, so bills and anything from HMRC reach you.
Council tax
The valuation for inheritance tax
The property is valued as it was on the date of death, at the price it would have sold for on the open market that day. The figure matters more than it first appears:
- Too low, and HMRC or the Valuation Office Agency may challenge it, with tax, interest and possibly a penalty to follow.
- Too high, and the estate pays more inheritance tax than it needs to.
- Later, the same figure is usually where capital gains tax starts from when the property is sold.
A RICS Red Book valuation sets out the evidence and reasoning behind the figure, so it can be explained if anyone questions it.
When we visit
Paying inheritance tax
Inheritance tax is due by the end of the sixth month after the death, and some of it usually has to be paid before probate is granted, so plan early. Tax on a house or flat can be paid in equal yearly instalments over 10 years as long as the property is not sold, with interest usually charged on the rest.
Selling the property
- If it sells for less than the probate value, generally within three years, part of the inheritance tax can be reclaimed on form IHT38.
- If it sells for more, the probate value normally becomes the starting point for capital gains tax, reported and paid within 60 days of completion. Ask your solicitor or accountant before you exchange, not after.
Where to get help
GOV.UK has HMRC’s guidance on valuing an estate and paying inheritance tax. Your solicitor or accountant can tell you how the rules apply to this estate. Websters prepares RICS Red Book valuations for inheritance tax across London and the home counties, and if HMRC or the Valuation Office Agency queries one of our valuations, we support you at no extra cost.
Property and capital gains tax: a guide to valuations
While your quote is on its way, this guide explains when a valuation is needed, which date it has to be at, and what makes it stand up. It is free to keep, whether or not you use us. It is general guidance, not tax advice: your accountant can tell you how it applies to you.
When a valuation is needed
Capital gains tax is worked out on the gain. Usually both ends are real prices; a valuation is needed when one of them is not:
- Giving a property away — a gift to a child is treated as a sale at market value on the day of the gift.
- Selling at an undervalue to family or anyone connected: HMRC ignores the price and uses market value.
- Moving property into or out of a company you control: market value applies in either direction.
- Owned since before 31 March 1982: the gain is measured from the value on that date.
- Non-UK resident since before April 2015: the gain on a UK home can usually be measured from its value on 5 April 2015.
- Inherited: the starting point is normally the value at the date of death.
Gifts and sales within the family
The person giving the property is the one who pays any capital gains tax, even though they receive nothing for it. A gift between spouses or civil partners who live together is the exception. Where tax is due on a UK home, it must usually be reported and paid within 60 days of completion.
Values at a past date
Many capital gains tax valuations are at a date in the past: the day of a gift, a death, 5 April 2015 or 31 March 1982. We value the property as it was on that date, in the market of the time, using sales evidence from around that date, old marketing particulars through a subscription service, and your own recollections, photographs and plans. A lease is assessed as it stood on the valuation date, before any later extension. HMRC confirms a 2015 valuation can be prepared now, as at that date.
What makes a valuation stand up
It is your responsibility to get an accurate value, and HMRC can refer a figure to the Valuation Office Agency to be checked. An agent’s appraisal is a view on price; a RICS Red Book valuation sets out the evidence and reasoning behind the figure, at the right date, so it can be explained if anyone questions it. Where the facts support a discount, for example on a share of a property or one let to a sitting tenant, a valuer can apply it with reasons.
Rates and deadlines
Where to get help
GOV.UK has HMRC’s guidance on capital gains tax, gifts and reporting a disposal. Your accountant can work out the tax and which reliefs apply. Websters prepares RICS Red Book valuations for capital gains tax at today’s date or any date in the past, including 31 March 1982 and 5 April 2015.
Valuing the home in a divorce
What the property is worth is often the biggest single number in a settlement, and it needs to be a figure both sides can rely on. We provide an independent RICS Red Book Market Value, prepared by an RICS Registered Valuer, and the valuation is the same whoever instructs or pays. An estate agent’s appraisal is a view on an asking price, often optimistic, and carries no independent duty, which is why courts give them little weight. More about our divorce and matrimonial valuations.
Our independence
Impartiality is the point of what we do. We act for the valuation, not for either party: the figure is the same whoever instructs us and whoever pays, and it will not move because one side hopes it is higher or lower. Where we are instructed jointly, we deal with you both even-handedly and do not discuss the valuation with one of you behind the other’s back.
That independence is exactly what makes the report useful. A figure neither of you can say was tilted gives solicitors and mediators something to settle around, and it is why courts place weight on an independent expert where they give an agent’s appraisal little.
Court compliant, or not?
We prepare two types of matrimonial report. Both contain the same Market Value opinion; they differ in formality and detail.
- A court compliant report is normally needed where a court order requires the valuation. The valuer’s duty is owed to the court, whoever instructs or pays. It carries an expert’s declaration and statement of truth, and the property is described and evidenced more fully, because the court never sees it. Family cases are prepared under the Family Procedure Rules, other litigation under Part 35 of the Civil Procedure Rules.
- A non-court compliant report suits private settlements, mediation and collaborative law. It is shorter, and costs less.
You can request a court compliant report without a court order, but it does cost more than a non-court compliant one: the extra detail, the declarations and the expert’s responsibilities to the court all take more of the valuer’s time.
If the figure needs to be at a past date
Settlements sometimes turn on what the property was worth at a date in the past, such as the date of separation. We prepare retrospective valuations using evidence from the time, and can give Market Value at two or more dates in one report. More about court reports and retrospective valuations.
Where to get help
Your solicitor can advise on whether a Single Joint Expert direction applies and which rules your case falls under. Websters’ RICS Registered Valuers regularly act as Single Joint Experts and give evidence in financial remedy proceedings across London and the South East, and we confirm a fixed fee in writing before you commit.