Mortgage Tree Report

Reliable Advice about your Trees

As most people are aware, part of the home-buying process involves inviting a surveyor to inspect the property they wish to buy. Surveyors look both inside and outside to assess the condition of a property, to identify any risks and potential legal issues, and to highlight any urgent defects. Because they know trees can pose risks to a dwelling or nearby buildings, this will include taking notes of any trees at the property and then the home owner will have to contact an Arboriculturalist to carry out a Homebuyers Report. You may also see this referred to as an Arboricultural report, Homebuyers Tree report or a Tree Survey and Report.

Well positioned trees around a property can add significant value to the overall worth. However, in certain soil conditions, badly positioned or poorly maintained trees can increase the risk of soil shrinkage leading to structural damage to the property due to subsidence.

Dry weather and media interest have led to an element of panic about trees near properties and many harmless trees have been felled as a precaution by home owners due to the lack of, or poor tree advice.

Thorough and Honest

At JCA we can complete a thorough and honest homebuyers report into the safety and overall health of any trees that may be of concern quickly, to minimise any disruption to the sale of a property. A homebuyers report is often recommended to lenders or estate agents by surveyors and mortgage offers can be withdrawn if a surveyor is concerned about trees close to a property.

Every homebuyers report from JCA provides a full description of every significant item of vegetation, detailing any required tree works. Also provided as part of this document is a clear, colour site plan showing tree positions.

Need a protected species survey, unsure of the time constraints?

Download our Ecology Calendar here

Peace of Mind

Appointing JCA to check the trees around a property prior to purchasing will give you peace of mind, knowing that your new home is unlikely to be influenced by the trees and that, if there is a risk, we will prescribe the best course of action. Health and Safety issues are addressed at the same time for added security.

Homebuyers reports are being provided by a number of people with varying degrees of expertise and insurance cover. Lenders are very cautious nowadays and clients are advised to check the surveyor’s qualifications and insurance before commissioning such a report.

Please be aware that tree surgeons and tree consultants are entirely different. Therefore it would be highly likely that a tree surgeon would not be qualified to undertake a tree mortgage report. We would always recommend performing a search on the Arboricultural Associations website for a reputable contractor.