Why speed is harder in London than it sounds
London is not one market and it does not behave like one. Traffic, controlled parking, congestion and ULEZ zones, buildings with three different key holders, concierge access hours, plant rooms whose keys are with a contractor in Enfield — the reason a short-notice assessment falls over is almost never the assessment. It is access and logistics. Working here every day is what makes those solvable at short notice: we know which boroughs need parking arranged in advance, which estates need the managing agent's office to release keys, and how long it really takes to get from a morning survey in Croydon to an afternoon one in Camden. That knowledge is the difference between a promise of speed and an actual visit today.
How quickly we can get to your borough
Inside the M25 an urgent instruction is normally attended within 24 hours, and central and inner boroughs can often be attended the same working day. Outer boroughs and the Home Counties are usually next working day for a short-notice booking, sooner where the diary already has an assessor in the area. We would rather commit to a window we will meet than an hour we might. When you call, you get a specific answer for your postcode rather than a generic promise, and it is confirmed in writing before anyone sets off.
- Central and inner London — often same working day
- Outer London boroughs — usually within 24 hours
- Essex, Kent, Surrey and Hertfordshire — usually next working day
- Multi-building estates — partial attendance today, balance within days
The deadlines London buildings run into
The pattern is consistent across the capital because the pressures are. Borough licensing teams operating additional and selective HMO schemes ask for a current written assessment as part of an application and will not progress without one. Insurers renewing on London leasehold blocks ask for the date and the author. Buyers' solicitors query fire safety documentation on leasehold sales, particularly in blocks with external wall or fire door questions. And London Fire Brigade audit activity means an informal visit can turn into a formal notice quickly where nothing current exists. Each of these has a date attached, and each of them is why our short-notice capacity exists.
What an urgent London assessment covers
The same scope as any other, because a deadline does not narrow a legal duty. The assessor works through escape routes and travel distances, compartmentation, fire doors and flat entrance doors, detection and alarm, emergency lighting and signage, firefighting provision and dry risers, ignition sources, electrical safety and storage, the evacuation strategy including stay-put where it applies, and the management arrangements that keep all of it working. Findings are photographed on site. Anything dangerous is raised before the assessor leaves. The written report follows within 24 hours.
- Escape routes, travel distances and final exits
- Compartmentation, fire doors and flat entrance doors
- Detection, alarm, emergency lighting and signage
- Dry risers, firefighting provision and access
- Ignition sources, electrical safety and storage
- Evacuation strategy and management arrangements
Borough pages, if you want the local detail
Every London borough has its own page on this site covering the housing stock we see there, the local licensing picture and what our assessors most commonly find in that borough's buildings. If your deadline allows five minutes of reading before you call, start there — knowing that your building sits in an additional licensing area, or that the stock in your part of the borough is largely interwar conversions with single staircases, makes the conversation faster and the quote more accurate. If it does not allow five minutes, call and we will do that part for you.
What it costs at short notice
The same as at long notice: from £99, priced on floors, units, size and complexity, fixed in writing before the visit, with no travel charge anywhere inside the M25. We do not operate an emergency rate for working-hours attendance. Out-of-hours attendance — evenings, weekends, or premises that can only be surveyed while closed — is quoted separately and agreed before we commit an assessor. Portfolio pricing still applies at short notice: if the urgent building is one of several you hold, the rate drops from the second property upwards and the rest go onto one renewal calendar.
What to have ready when you call
Property type, number of floors and units, the postcode, the deadline and who holds the keys. That is enough to price the job, allocate an assessor and confirm a window on the same call. If a notice, licensing letter or insurer's request prompted the enquiry, forward it — the assessor will read it before attending so the survey targets the points raised rather than finding them by accident. Nothing else is required, and no quoting visit is needed: a survey to produce a quote is a cost somebody pays for, and it is usually you.
