House surveys in North West

The North West stretches from the Lake District to the Cheshire plain, and its housing is just as varied. Liverpool and Manchester grew into world cities in the 19th century, surrounded by mill and mining towns built of brick in Lancashire and Merseyside and Pennine gritstone on the eastern edge. Seaside resorts such as Blackpool, Southport and Morecambe have tall Victorian terraces and former guest houses, Cheshire has black-and-white Tudor towns and some of the most expensive suburbs in the North, and Cumbria's slate and stone cottages sit in the Lake District National Park.

For buyers, that variety means survey risks change from town to town. Coal mining legacy runs across Wigan, Leigh, St Helens, Bolton and West Cumbria, salt subsidence affects mid Cheshire, and the region's high rainfall drives penetrating damp in solid-walled terraces. Cumbria's rivers have caused major floods, coastal towns face salt and wind, and new towns such as Runcorn, Skelmersdale and Warrington contain system-built and timber-framed homes. City centre apartments in Manchester, Salford and Liverpool bring building safety and lease questions.