Kent · London and the South East
Sole Street Pre-Purchase Roof Survey
Find out the condition of the roof at your property in Sole Street from an independent roof surveyor. We visit on weekdays and at weekends.
- Slipped or missing slates and tiles
- Standing water on a flat extension roof
- Loose pots and cracked flaunching
What happens on the day
Every roof is different; as a rough guide, the survey takes about 1–2 hours at a typical home, and longer for a large or complex roof. You’re welcome to ask questions while we’re there. Older roofs in small places like Sole Street can have low, tight loft spaces, so it’s useful to know whether there is a loft hatch and how easy it is to reach. Only areas that can be reached safely are inspected.
- After your offer is agreed, you book and share your timetable.
- We arrange access with you, the agent or the seller, including the loft.
- The visit begins outside, from ground level and any safe vantage points.
- We then look from upstairs windows and inside the loft where it is safe.
- You get a report with photographs and recommendations before you exchange.
Before we arrive
- Keep pets out of the way during the survey
- If the roof is shared, arrange access with whoever manages the building
- Check we can get to the back of the property
Book a survey
If you have photos of the roof, send them over. Pictures from ground level or a window are fine. To get started, call 07833 053749 or use the contact form.
Advice
Pre-purchase roof survey in Sole Street
The roof is one of the most expensive parts of a home to repair, and one of the hardest for a buyer to see. A pre-purchase roof survey looks at it closely before you are tied in. We look at the slates or tiles, the ridges and valleys, the flashings, the chimneys and the gutters, plus the loft where there’s safe access. You get a written report with photos. We are often asked to look into flashings that have lifted or split and damp timbers or stains in the loft, on gutters and downpipes, chimney stacks and the roof space.
Older buildings in small places like Sole Street may be listed or in a conservation area. That can affect what materials a new roof may use, so check with the council and Historic England’s list. For a buyer or someone with a newly finished roof, it is worth knowing which applies. There are about 500,000 listed buildings and around 10,000 conservation areas in England.
Findings are set out part by part, from the coverings down to the gutters, each with a short note and a photograph. You will see the good as well as the bad.
- Place
- Sole Street (DA13, DA12)
- Wider area
- Kent
- Cost
- From £150 inc. VAT
- Your report
- Written, with photos, emailed to you
- Appointments
- Weekdays and weekends
- Cover
- PI and public liability insurance
- Phone
- 07833 053749
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Before and after the survey
A little preparation and a few simple habits help. Our tips:
- Ask whether there are papers for past roof work
- Check we will be able to get into the roof space
- Ask when the roof was last worked on
- Watch for stains or fresh paint on ceilings below the roof
We email the report to you, with photos of each finding. Turnaround is within 48 hours for Basic, 24 to 48 hours for Standard and the same day for Premium. Each defect is explained in plain words, with recommendations prioritised by urgency where relevant.
After you move in, have leaves and moss cleared from gutters and valleys, particularly after autumn. Blocked gutters cause much of the damp we see. Use a gutter contractor rather than going up a ladder yourself.
Places near Sole Street
Also in Sole Street
Why it’s worth a survey now in Sole Street
A slow leak can go unnoticed for months. By the time a stain shows, timber or plaster may already be damp. Finding the cause at the survey stage lets you deal with it as soon as you move in. In a small place like Sole Street, homes can be exposed to wind and rain, which finds any gap, and older walls, once damp, take a long time to dry.
Simple, low roofs take less time to survey than tall or complicated ones, and the package matters as well. The price is always agreed first.
Why choose Independent Roof Survey in Sole Street
- Independent findings on the roof’s condition
- Thermal imaging and drones used where they help
- Surveys on any day of the week
- Covered by professional indemnity and public liability insurance
See what a roof survey costs and our case studies.
Honest limits
We only report everything that’s safely in view on the day, so there are some things a survey can’t cover:
- Whether the price should change, which is between you and the seller
- Asbestos testing of any kind
- Anything beyond the roof, which a full home survey covers
Not sure which survey suits your roof? You can call 07833 053749 or email us and we’ll tell you. What a survey covers and doesn’t.
What we look at
- Lead flashings and valleys
- Clay and concrete tiles
- Gutters and downpipes
- Flat-roofed extensions and dormers
- The roof space
- Chimney stacks
- Natural slate
When to book a survey in Sole Street
A chimney stack stands out in the wind and rain and they’re frequently the least maintained part of a roof. Mortar erodes, the flaunching around the pots cracks and the flashings work loose. A stack may be shared with the neighbours, which can affect how any work is arranged.
Here are some of the things we see often:
- Lead that has worked loose at a wall or chimney
- Loose pots and cracked flaunching
- Blocked or leaking gutters
- Slipped or missing slates and tiles
Landlords with a home close to Sole Street station may find that it is worth knowing a roof’s condition before you buy it, or before you sign off new roofing work on it.
Questions to ask before you book
- How they plan to inspect the roof safely
- Are they insured for the work?
- Whether the inside of the roof is included
- What follow-up you get after the report
Sole Street questions
Does being near the coast affect roofs in Sole Street?
Generally, yes: wind and salt air take more of a toll near the sea. Ridges, verges, flashings and fixings are where it normally shows, and Sole Street is within about 5 miles of the coast.
Is Sole Street within the area you cover?
We do. Villages and rural addresses get the same survey as a town house, with the route planned beforehand.
Is this the same as a RICS Level 2 or Level 3 survey?
No. Our survey looks at the roof only, and it isn’t a RICS home survey. It complements one rather than replacing it.
How long have you been surveying roofs?
We’ve completed more than 5,000 surveys, across 20+ years of surveying roofs.
How do I book a survey in Sole Street?
The quickest way is to call 07833 053749 or email us. Tell us the address and a little about the roof. We survey on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
I live in a flat. Can you survey the roof?
Yes, if whoever owns or manages the building agrees access. On a shared roof we can only inspect the parts we’re allowed to reach, and the report makes that clear.
Do you need to go inside the property?
Where possible, yes. We look in the roof space where there is safe access, and upstairs windows give useful views. The agent or seller can arrange entry.
Buying a home or a new roof in Sole Street
The coast is about 5 miles or less from Sole Street, and places near the sea get more salt in the air and more wind than inland. Metal fixings and flashings corrode faster in salt air, and loose ridges, slates and tiles are the first to lift in a gale, which is worth knowing before you buy or pay for new work. Older houses across Kent frequently have handmade clay or peg tiles, and many have tile-hung walls. Oast houses and timber-framed Wealden hall houses are part of the county’s older buildings too. Each material has its own typical faults, which is what a buyer or the owner of a new roof needs to know about.
The streets around a church such as St Mary's Room are frequently among the oldest in a place, and if yours is one of the older homes nearby, older patch repairs can hide behind a tidy front slope, and the survey looks past them. Historic houses such as Cobham College, about 0.9 miles east, show how far back building around Sole Street goes. When you buy an older home, the roof’s age, past repairs and any listing all affect what you might spend later.
Sole Street is about 3 miles south of Gravesend, in Kent. From houses to flats and shops in Sole Street, we can survey the roof. Our Kent coverage includes Sole Street. There is also a page for Maidstone.
Every address in DA13 and DA12 is covered for pre-purchase roof surveys. Whether your property is on Scratton Fields, Sole Street and Manor Road or anywhere close by, we can survey it. We also cover the places around Sole Street: Gold Street (1 mile east), Round Street (1 mile north), Henley Street (1 mile south-east), Meopham (1 mile south-west) and Foxendown (1 mile south). Larger places within reach include Maidstone (10 miles south-east), Dartford (8 miles north-west), Sevenoaks (11 miles south-west), Gravesend (3 miles north), Tonbridge (14 miles south) and Northfleet (4 miles north-west).
Near you in Sole Street
Typical jobs here are in homes near The Railway Inn, Meopham School and Camer Park Country Park, among other places. There’s a railway station in Sole Street itself: Sole Street station. Other landmarks nearby include Gravesham Museum (3.9 miles north) and Gravesham Community Hospital (4 miles north). For a walk, there’s Ranscombe Farm and Gad's Hill.
What we look for on each type of roof
Natural slate
Natural slate can last 100 years or more, but the nails holding it corrode long before that. When slates start to slip, corroded nails are often the reason.
Lead flashings and valleys
Many leaks start at a flashing, so they get close attention in a pre-purchase survey. We photograph any that need work.