Hidden Value Archives

London – Basement risk

by Paul Addison on April 4, 2016 No comments

DevAssist do huge amounts of work in London. In the high value areas one of the most common risks we uncover are basement extensions. Sometimes referred to as Iceberg homes these amazing feats on engineering are great for the end users.

The neighbours however may not receive these plans quite so favourably. If the property you are buying shares a party wall with a property that is proposing a basement new areas of advice are needed. A party wall agreement for one will be required. Will this impact the availability of buildings insurance? Is the lender aware of this? What about the noise? Do you work from home? Have you a young baby? Many homebuyers in London are grateful for a DevAssist report because no one else told them what the new neighbours were planning. This is why we created DevLondon so that buyers can open their eyes and understand what is really happening in a location.

London – Temporary blight

by Paul Addison on April 4, 2016 No comments

Here we identified positive development with a negative twist.

To the east was a large industrial site that was going to be developed for circa 600 flats with commercial, restaurants, coffee shops etc.

This is great news for the area as it will, when built, remove the dirty industry and replace it with a bright and shiny new development. However, prior to build, the land is proposed to be used as the drilling site for the new London Super Sewer that will take three years to build. Worse than that that they will be working 7 days a week 24 hours a day. If you worked from home or had a young baby this is critical information.

Good news – Hidden value found

by Paul Addison on April 1, 2016 No comments

Its not always bad news.

One of the key things we look for is hidden value. In this case the solicitors were concerned that there client was underselling. We applaud them because they were right.

A simple study by DevAssist suggested that the planning consent that the subject property benefitted from had not maximised its value. With additional instructions form the solicitors to help them release the value a plan was drawn up demonstrating that two blocks of riverside frontage luxury flats would release a considerably higher land. Happy solicitor , happy client.