UOWN organises a chartered surveyor to value all its properties at three monthly intervals, to ensure valuations are current and reflect the accurate market conditions. The prices are then updated and reflected on our platform, meaning that shares you bought in the past may change in value.

The surveyor is usually dedicated to the property’s geographical area and hence has good market knowledge, both currently and historically. The surveyor uses a combination of physical inspection and prior and post-inspection research and evaluation to reach a current market value.

Pre-inspection, a surveyor will:

• Look at local issues such as planning applications pending, available schools, transport links, flood areas
• Assess the property type, style, desirability, and the tenure and ownership status
• Conduct searches to find when the property was last sold, land registry transactions and planning applications made on the property

During inspection, the surveyor will:

• Check the overall condition, including any modifications made
• Check that declared details are accurate
• Check whether the property is affected by local external issues, ie. environmental factors
• Check for structural issues such as damp, roof or wiring problems

Post inspection, the surveyor will assess all of the above and apply it to his/her local market knowledge, finding comparable evidence to back up judgements, and commissioning further specialist reports on specific findings where necessary, before finally delivering a current market value.

It’s important to note that the process we use for calculating the value of investments as a whole is slightly different to calculating the value of a property in isolation. It contains other variables such as share price, amortised costs, and deferred taxes.