Valuations

RICS Registered Valuers

A Red Book valuation adheres to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) mandatory rules and best practise guidelines set out for Registered Valuers to follow. It ensures compliance with standards, ethics, competency, objectivity and disclosure. An RICS Registered Valuer is a regulated and qualified professional and your report will be prepared to the highest professional standards in valuation approaches and methods.

There are many circumstances when a Red Book valuation may be required, such as;

• Legal Proceedings Secured
• Lending  (we do not presently provide secure lending valuations)
• Tax Purposes
• Disputes
• Negotiations
• Probate
• Capital Gains / Inheritance Tax
• Charity Act Disposals (link to page)
• Shared ownership / Help to buy
• Divorce / Declaration of Trust

An RICS Registered Valuer will assess the property and provide a formal report on the Market Value.  This ensures we are working within the professional standards defined by the RICS to ensure the highest standard of inspection, investigation, research, analysis and calculations to create a robust report which can be relied upon and will stand up to scrutiny.

Only RICS Registered Valuers are permitted to undertake Red Book valuations. Chroma Surveyors are RICS Registered Valuers with over 25 years’ experience in residential and commercial valuations, negotiations and investments so you can be confident you are working with regulated and qualified professionals.

Your Trusted Professionals

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is payable when you sell an asset that has increased in value since you purchased it and tax is payable on the net gain in value. Since 1982, any gain made on a property other than your home (principal residence) is liable to Capital Gains Tax.

The Chargeable Gains Act 1992 (as amended) sets out the valuation requirements for this purpose and generally two valuations are required, one being the date of purchase or acquisition and the other being the date of sale or disposal/transfer which may, but not always, be the sale price.

Since 2015, property landlords who live overseas are also liable to CGT on any transfer or disposal of property, thus it is important to have a market valuation at the relevant date, even where a transfer occurs without a market sale as it may attract CGT or as part of a portfolio of properties.

In some cases, the grant of extended leases by Nominee freehold Companies, even where the lessee is a Director or shareholder, can attract a CGT liability.

At Chroma Surveyors, we are regulated by the RICS and our RICS Registered Valuers are able to provide a professional and robust valuation report for your accountant/HMRC.

Your Trusted Professionals

You may be in the unfortunate position of trying to settle the estate, which can contain an element of Inheritance Tax.  This is a tax on the estate (the property, money and possessions) of someone who’s died.

There’s normally no Inheritance Tax to pay if either:

• the value of your estate is below the £325,000 threshold
• you leave everything above the £325,000 threshold to your spouse, civil partner, a charity or a community amateur sports club

If the estate’s value is below the threshold you’ll still need to report it to HMRC.

If you give away your home to your children (including adopted, foster or stepchildren) or grandchildren your threshold can increase to £500,000.

If you’re married or in a civil partnership and your estate is worth less than your threshold, any unused threshold can be added to your partner’s threshold when you die. This means their threshold can be as much as £1 million.

By using a sympathetic approach, Chroma Surveyors would be able to provide you with the necessary valuation(s) in order to calculate any tax liability which may be payable.

Your Trusted Professionals

During matrimonial negotiations often associated with divorce proceedings and potential litigation property has to be valued to assist clients and solicitors; often the main family home being the only property asset but in some cases a portfolio of property assets is involved.

Our RICS Registered Valuers have the maturity, impartiality and expertise to value all types of property whether instructed jointly on a sole basis or as directed by a Court, with the sensitivity required in these often stressful and difficult situations.

Where required we are able to act as Expert Witness when appointed by the Court and with offices throughout Southern England, London and Leicester we are well placed to value properties across the UK.

Our reports are undertaken in accordance with the RICS Red Book and where necessary Court Compliant.

Your Trusted Professionals

If you are a registered Charity and planning to dispose of a property, the Trustees are required to obtain a Red Book valuation under Section 119 of the Charities Act 2011.

The valuation must include the current market value, advice on the most appropriate method of sale and whether to carry out any works prior to marketing. Chroma have extensive experience advising a number of Charitable Trusts in matters of acquisition, disposal, redevelopment and providing Red Book valuations in accordance with the Charities (Qualified Surveyors Reports) Regulations 1992.

As RICS Registered valuers we are able to comply with the requirements of the Charity Commissioners and the associated legislation. Our clients include the Salvation Amy and a number of independent national charities and church networks.

Under a little known piece of legislation, the Places of Worship (Enfranchisement) Act 1920 charities or rather organisations operating as places of public worship with leases of over 21 years are entitled to enfranchise (acquire the freehold interest) subject to price and other qualifications being complied with.

Again, with our extensive experience in enfranchisement and charitable work we are able to advise charitable organisations looking to enfranchise or reversionary landlords requiring representation or valuation advice in any claim made under this Act.

Your Trusted Professionals

The First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) is the mechanism of last resort for most Leasehold Reform and associated valuation disputes. In the vast majority of cases, sensible and pragmatic advice will prevail, and freeholders alike will settle terms without recourse to the third party adjudication.

Where that is not possible, our team are able to provide Expert Evidence to the Tribunal with experience on complex enfranchisement cases, lease extensions, and when there are absent landlords. We provide Expert Evidence predominantly in the Southern and London Tribunal system.

In many relatively low-value cases, the cost of taking a matter to the FTT can significantly outweigh any potential savings or additional premium to the leaseholder or freeholder respectively and very careful consideration should be given before utilising the services of the First Tier Tribunal.

In cases where the premium and terms cannot be resolved within the statutory timescales, the leaseholder must apply to the Tribunal, failing which the leaseholders’ notice is deemed to have been withdrawn and the matter will be struck out. The application to the Tribunal should be made within 6 months of the date of the Section 45 Counter Notice in the case of a statutory lease extension and it is imperative for client’s legal advisors to monitor the deadline dates for application in order to protect the leaseholder’s position.

The Expert Evidence provided to a Tribunal is an objective and unbiased assessment to help the Tribunal reach a fair decision. Prior to any application, our team are able to provide an assessment of the merits of making an application or proceeding to a hearing based on the potential risk versus reward associated with any application. An application to a Tribunal, together with the work associated with presentation of Expert Evidence and attendance at a hearing can significantly increase the costs of the lease extension or enfranchisement process in terms of professional fees, therefore careful consideration should be given to the additional costs compared with the potential savings.

A number of the more prominent recent First Tier Tribunal and Upper Property Tribunal decisions can be seen on our FTT and UT decisions page. If you are considering an application to the Tribunal, we would be happy to discuss the merits of this with you on a no-obligation basis and provide an estimate of our fees for providing Expert Evidence.

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There are various times you will require the input of a Chartered Surveyor, such as purchasing additional shares (known as staircasing) or selling your property you will require an independent Market Valuation to be provided to the Housing Association.

We would ascertain the requirements of the housing association as each differs, in order to provide you with the accurate information to either sell your property or increase the percentage of ownership you have.

All of our valuations have a validity of three months, at which time we can then revise the valuation on a desktop basis, thus reducing your cost.

Your Trusted Professionals

A Reinstatement or Building Reinstatement Valuation (BRV) is the estimated amount for which your home or property should be insured and covers the entire cost of rebuilding including partial demolition, materials, labour and professional fees. The valuation differs from a Market Value of your property and potentially may be higher or lower.

Block managing agents, brokers, insurers and underwriters rely on accurate property data for risk management when assessing insurance premiums. Inflated insurable property values may result in excessive insurance premiums whilst inadequate insured sums can be disastrous in the event of a loss leaving capital shortfalls on rebuilding.

Whether you are a residential or commercial property owner, or block managing agent, Chroma Surveyors can provide you with professional advice on the rebuilding cost for insurance purposes, ensuring you are adequately insured, legally covered and not paying excessively high premiums. This will also give peace of mind in the event of any loss.

We use the latest BCIS cost data supported, where necessary, by consultant Quantity Surveying professionals to ensure the valuations are accurate, even for the more complex buildings.

Your Trusted Professionals

Part 1 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1987 grants to certain tenants of certain premises a statutory right of first refusal. It prohibits the landlord from making a relevant disposal without first serving a Notice, effectively offering the interest to the leaseholders at a set price. There are a number of qualifications to this which is why professional advice should be sought whether you have received a Section 5 Offer Notice (leaseholders) or are considering making an offer as the freeholder.

Our RICS Registered Valuers are able to advise leaseholders where they have received a Section 5 Notice, on the premium value, issues or qualification and if required recommend solicitors to deal with the transfer and associated matters.

Equally, we are able to advise freeholders on the market value of the freehold interest where they are considering a disposal.