Loan security reviews, compulsory purchase and portfolio valuations — in-depth market knowledge, research and analysis, delivered by RICS Registered Valuers.
Four quick questions — the purpose of a valuation determines its basis, so this matters more than it looks. We'll send it to our valuers on WhatsApp.
Our commercial and residential Valuation Consultancy team applies in-depth market knowledge, experience, research and analysis across a range of services — from loan security reviews and development viability advice, to compulsory purchase compensation and fund valuations.
Valuation for secured lending, where the report has to withstand credit committee scrutiny and stand behind the facility for its whole term.
Viability advice that tests whether a scheme stands up on value as well as cost — before capital is committed to it.
Compensation assessed for acquiring authorities and affected parties alike, with expert witness support behind the figure if it is challenged.
Full fund and portfolio valuations delivered by a briefed national team, managed and quality controlled by a dedicated core team.
We work with a variety of lenders, owner occupiers and investors from almost every sector, with specialists in the niche markets where valuation evidence is thin.
Whatever your valuation need — advice to a corporate or bank on an acquisition, a strategic review of assets, or working with an institution on a full fund portfolio valuation — we work as part of your team to deliver a tailored result.
“What is it worth” is not a complete question. The same property, on the same day, properly produces different figures for different purposes — and a valuation prepared for the wrong purpose is not conservative, it is unusable.
RICS valuations are produced under RICS Valuation – Global Standards, generally called the Red Book, which sets mandatory requirements on a registered valuer: the basis of value, the assumptions and special assumptions, the valuation date and the extent of investigation all have to be stated. That apparatus exists because the figure on its own cannot be audited by the person relying on it.
So the first conversation is not about the number. It is about what the valuation is for, who will rely on it, and what basis that requires — because getting those wrong is the only way to produce a report that is both competently prepared and useless.
| Purpose | What the instruction has to get right |
|---|---|
| Secured lending | The lender is the party relying on it, so their requirements govern: basis, assumptions, any special assumption, and disclosure of anything affecting independence. A valuation addressed to the borrower is usually not acceptable to the lender, which is a re-instruction nobody budgets for. |
| Financial reporting | Figures for accounts have to sit within the applicable accounting framework and be prepared to a consistent basis and date so the auditor can rely on them and compare year on year. |
| Tax | Valuations for tax purposes attach to a statutory basis and a specific date, often historic. The evidence has to be the evidence available at that date, which is a different exercise from valuing today. |
| Purchase or sale | Advice on price alongside the market evidence, including what the realistic range is and which assumptions move it most. This is the one place where the range is more useful than the point. |
| Rent review and renewal | Market rent on the basis the lease specifies, with the lease’s own assumptions and disregards applied. The lease wording, not general practice, decides what is valued. |
| Dispute and litigation | A valuation prepared to be tested. An expert witness owes an overriding duty to the tribunal rather than to whoever is paying, which is precisely what makes the opinion worth having. |
| Insurance reinstatement | A different exercise again — the cost of rebuilding rather than the value of the asset. Confusing the two is how buildings end up underinsured. |
Everything else is method. A valuation with a clear approach and weak comparables is weaker than one with a plain approach and strong comparables, and the second will survive scrutiny the first will not.
Which means the quality of a valuation depends almost entirely on what evidence exists and how honestly it is characterised. Transactional evidence is better than quoting evidence. Recent is better than old, but not automatically — a transaction from a different market phase needs adjusting rather than discounting. Evidence from genuinely comparable buildings beats evidence from the same postcode. And where the comparables are thin, the right response is to say so and widen the range, not to present a precise figure resting on two transactions.
This is also why we publish our own rent distributions with the instruction count behind each row. A median derived from four instructions and one derived from four hundred are both called a median, and only one of them should move a decision.
A valuation is an opinion of value at a stated date, on the information available then. Markets move; reports do not update themselves. If a decision is being taken months after the valuation date, the question to ask is not whether the report is signed but whether the date is still relevant to the decision — and if it is not, revaluation is cheaper than the consequences.
Where evidence is thin or the asset is unusual, a single figure conveys a confidence the evidence does not support. A stated range with the reasons for its width is more useful and more honest, and it tells you which assumption to test first. If a valuer gives you a precise number for a property with almost no comparable evidence, that precision is a presentational choice rather than a finding.
If you want to see how we assemble and test evidence before trusting it, the method behind our published figures is set out in full.
This sets the basis, the assumptions and often the format. It is the first question, not a detail.
Today, a year end, or a historic statutory date. A historic date changes which evidence is admissible.
Leases, rent schedules, any licences or variations. Income and its security are most of the value of an investment property.
If we have acted for another party on the same asset, we tell you and may decline. Independence is the product; it cannot be partially present.
Only if the instruction comes on a basis the lender will accept, which usually means the lender is the party relying on the report and their requirements govern it. Tell us which lender at the outset. A valuation addressed to the wrong party is the most common reason a report has to be redone at the borrower’s cost.
For a single, straightforward commercial property with documents available, commonly one to three weeks including inspection. Multi-let investments, unusual assets, historic valuation dates and portfolios take longer, mostly because of evidence gathering rather than inspection.
Usually one of four reasons: a different basis of value, a different valuation date, different assumptions or special assumptions, or a different read of the comparable evidence. All four are legitimate and all four are visible in a properly written report, which is why the stated assumptions matter as much as the number. If two reports differ and neither states its assumptions clearly, the problem is the reports.
Yes, where we can do so independently. An expert owes an overriding duty to the tribunal rather than to the instructing party. If we have previously advised either side on the same asset we will say so, and if that compromises independence we will decline rather than caveat it.
We value residential investment and mixed-use assets where the commercial element is material. For a single owner-occupied house a residential specialist is the right adviser and we will say so rather than take the instruction.
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