You may choose who is to carry out a valuation and a survey provided that the firm or individual chosen is independent and is appropriately qualified (e.g. RICS, RIBA) or you may choose the surveyors who are retained by L&C Pensions.

However, in the case of a purchase by your Fund the property will be registered in the name of L&C Pensions or its nominee. This means that we shall give the formal instructions for the survey and valuation and it is essential that the survey and valuation reports are addressed to L&C Pensions or its nominee. This is mainly because the Surveyor would otherwise have no liability to L&C Pensions for whatever is said in the report. Your Fund would therefore not be protected from any errors or omissions in the report.

Where a loan is involved, it may be that the same Surveyor/Valuer could be used for L&C Pensions purposes as that used by the Lender.

You may have already had a recent inspection carried out by your chosen surveyor/valuer prior to the property becoming associated with the SIPP. If this is the case it will often be possible for the Surveyor/Valuer to produce a fresh version based upon the work already done at little or no extra cost. Apart from the change of addressee, a previous report may not require very much amendment to the text but this will depend upon the circumstances.

However, in some cases our requirements may differ from those already investigated, in which case an additional charge may be raised by the valuer.

As owners, apart from the usual report on the condition of the property, they shall be concerned with any aspects which may potentially involve us in expenditure. This will include, for example, consideration of any environmental features including contamination which may result in some liability on the property owner.

The type of survey to be carried out (e.g. full structural, building survey etc.) is basically up to you provided that the report includes certain particular items relating to possible risks to L&C Pensions as indicated above.

Where a survey/valuation has not yet been carried out it is advisable for you to alert the firm or individual to the fact that instructions may be received from more than one party. This should enable the surveyor/valuer to include all the various requirements in one inspection in order to keep costs to a minimum.

Ownership of some properties may carry special risks because of known or possible contamination. Such risks may be suspected because of the past or present use or the location of a property.

If the survey indicates there is a potential risk then the property will be considered for acceptance only after a special environmental report has been carried out.

This will be commissioned by L&C Pensions with the cost to be borne by your Fund (or you may pay for this separately). Costs for a "Stage 1" report may typically be in the region of £1,000 to £1,500 (+VAT) and if a "Stage 2" report is necessary this may cost another £1,000 upwards depending upon the extent of the investigations needed.

L&C Pensions will not purchase a property which in its opinion is subject to any significant risk from contamination.