On Thursday 11 October 2018, Watsons will once again be exhibiting at the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce B2B Exhibition taking place at Norwich City Football Club, Norwich (open between 10am – 4pm). This FREE networking event is the region’s premier business to business exhibition and attracts over 800 attendees to the event. Helping to develop Norfolk businesses year on the year the B2B Exhibtion is...

Reserve funds and their importance are another area often misunderstood by leaseholders.   Here we answer some of the Frequently Asked Questions we receive: Q - What is a reserve fund? A – A reserve fund is a pot of money that is collected over time (usually as part of your service charges). This money is set aside to cover major works and cyclical maintenance (e.g. the larger jobs that need doing...

RICS accreditation is often used as a shorthand for professional standards in surveying, valuation and property advice. For firms such as Watsons, the important designation is being Regulated by RICS.RICS stands for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, founded in 1868 in London, is the professional body for surveyors, valuers and property specialists. A firm that is Regulated by RICS must follow...

Service charges are one of the principal areas for dispute, usually due to lack of knowledge as to how service charges actually work. Here we answer some of the frequently asked questions: Q - What are service charges? A - Service charges are levied to recover the costs they incur in providing services to a block or estate. The way in which individual service charges are organised is set out in individual...

We are running a photography competition over this summer and all are welcome to take part. Capture a great image with a property theme and you could have it featured on the front cover of the Guild of Property Professionals magazine! The competition is free to enter and open to all amateur and professional photographers. We take a lot of our own photography and source images when needed, but thought this...

Following on from the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, Nathan Humphreys, Head of Residential Management at Watsons gives his opinion on fire safety in flats and maisonettes. While the emphasis for industry and the government following the Grenfell Tower fire has been associated with tall buildings, any block of flats or maisonettes need to ensure they are adequately protected against fire...

Watsons are Estate Agents and Chartered Surveyors, so I read with interest the recent BBC news reporting a significant rise in homes being valued at less than the price that buyers had agreed to pay.  Down valuations, on the estate agency side of our business, do happen from time to time, but to-date we have seen not seen anywhere near the levels being reported of ‘I in 5 sales’ as suggested by Emoov...

To support the continued growth of our surveying business, we have recently expanded to provide mineral surveying and land agency services across the UK. We can advise on a large range of property issues pertaining to minerals and waste, together with associated industrial properties. These include valuations, negotiations for option agreements for leases, the acquisition and disposal of property,...

A baby GoGoHare (leveret) named Hareratio is now residing with us at Watsons in Bank Plain. Decorated by pupils at Notre Dame High School in Norwich, this beautiful hare is decorated with iconic images of Norwich and Norfolk. Hareratio is part of the GoGoHares leveret trail, which runs from Monday 2nd July until Sunday September 2nd in Norwich. Why not spent a summer’s day following the trail,...

One of the most enjoyable aspects of my job is the rich variety of property I get to see.  Reflecting over the last 10 days, it has included everything from a 1970’s two bedroom detached bungalow in Weybourne, a stunning apartment on the North Norfolk coast, to a significant Georgian cliff-top house.  Likewise, condition varies from stunning to full-modernisation and agent's favourite word...