Buying a flat—whether in a Victorian conversion, purpose-built block, or a modern development—comes with its own set of challenges and responsibilities. These often far differ from owning a house which many fail to understand. One of the most common questions we’re asked by potential buyers, particularly in Greater London and other bustling areas like Birmingham, Oxford, and Worcester, is:
"Should I get a survey on a flat?" 
The short answer? Absolutely.
Obviously as with all large purchases in your life you to want to be sure upon purchase it is as expected and a flat is no difference.
But let’s dive into the details to understand why this is so important.

Every now and then, my team and I like to play a little game I call the "Surveyor’s Where’s Wally". The purpose of this is to  keeps the young ones out of trouble but also top up our skill of spotting defects (as the kids say IRL "in real Life"). We drop a random pin on a map—urban, suburban, or occasionally rural (if you fancy seeing something somber). We then Inspect the area virtually. It’s all in good fun, but what we find is anything but amusing. Drop a pin anywhere in cities like London, Manchester, Oxford, or Birmingham, and there’s a high chance you’ll land with some pivoting on a building that’s suffering from maintenance issues. Rotten windows, failing brickwork, leaking gutter and dodgy roofing are par for the course. Even worse on occasions, we do also witness deterioration such as Structural lintel failure.
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Recently, I realised that this isn’t in isolated cases either. A staggering 20% of England’s housing stock predates 1919, with over 35% built before 1945. That’s millions of homes—many privately rented or owned by social landlords—creaking under the weight of time and neglect. (Source: English Housing Survey, MHCLG).

I have never completed a survey or a building (other than spanking new builds) that have had zero defects to report!!