RICS Level 2 Survey in Washington

A Level 2 Homebuyer Report is a visual inspection. We assess accessible parts of the roof, walls, ceilings, floors, chimneys, windows, doors and visible services, then grade the main issues using RICS condition ratings 1, 2 and 3. In Washington, that often means checking the state of exposed carstone, Sussex brick, flint panels and later weatherboard on the same property, because many homes here have been altered over time. The report is written for buyers, not builders, so the language stays direct.

The inspection does not involve lifting carpets, moving furniture or opening up fabric. We do not carry out destructive testing, and we do not test gas, electrics, drains or heating systems. That matters in a place like Washington, where a stone cottage off the village centre may look sound from the road but still hide damp, movement or old repair work behind finished surfaces. If the home is listed, heavily extended, unusual in construction or visibly distressed, a Level 3 Building Survey is usually the better route.

A Level 2 report suits a conventional property in reasonable condition, usually built within the last 100 years. A 1960s house near the parish edge can be a good match for this service, as can a standard semi-detached home with no obvious major defects. A mortgage lender's valuation is not the same thing. It tells the lender what the property is worth for lending, not what the buyer should repair, monitor or ask the seller to fix.

• Visual checks only
• Traffic-light condition ratings
• Plain-English summary of risks
• Repair priorities and next steps

Washington is a small parish, not a town centre, and that shapes the housing stock. The 2019 Storrington, Sullington & Washington Neighbourhood Plan references 2011 Census data showing 45% detached houses and bungalows, with 21% semi-detached houses and bungalows. With 1,867 residents and 747 households recorded in the same period, the area is compact enough that housing patterns can be read straight off the street. Detached homes and converted cottages dominate far more than flats.

The geology matters as much as the layout. Washington lies at the foot of the South Downs escarpment, with Chanctonbury Ring on the parish border, and the wider West Sussex geology includes Weald Clay, Hythe Sandstone and other greensand formations. In practice, that means our surveyors pay close attention to damp in solid walls, mortar loss, stone erosion, differential movement and repairs where one material has been patched with another. A cottage built from carstone, flint or Sussex brick can age very differently from a post-war house on standard brick and block.

Flooding deserves a proper look too, even where the immediate picture looks calm. Washington Sandpit, Hamper's Lane, Sullington is in Flood Zone 1, and as of 22 May 2026 there were no flood warnings or alerts in West Sussex, with very low risk over the next 5 days from rivers, the sea and groundwater. Long-term surface water and groundwater risk can still exist, so we check what the report and location suggest together. We also found no definite active large-scale new-build scheme inside Washington itself, although Vineyard Close near the village is sold out and smaller planning applications continue in the parish area.

Conservation and listing status need care. Local detail varies by exact address, so we work from your property rather than a town-wide figure. If a property is listed, heavily altered or built from an unusual system, a Level 3 survey is the safer choice because a Level 2 report is not designed for deeper fabric investigation. That point matters for older homes near the village centre, where later alterations can be hard to spot from the outside.