If you advise English-speaking clients on Swiss property, you will occasionally need someone to establish what physical condition a building is actually in, in writing, in a form your client can read and you can work from. That is what this practice does.
This page exists so that you can assess the fit before you recommend anyone, including the parts that do not fit.
What we produce
- New-build handover defect reports. Attendance at the Abnahme, every defect photographed, located, rated and dated, documented against the Baubeschrieb, the plans and the applicable Swiss standards. See the new-build defect report page.
- Pre-purchase building surveys. Condition of the building before the client commits, with repair costs estimated per defect, plus a review of the Protokolle, Reglement, Erneuerungsfonds statement and GEAK.
- Damp and mould investigation. Moisture measurement and thermography, with the findings separated from the inferences.
- Floor area against SIA 416. Where a listing or a contract overstates the area, the discrepancy is measured and stated. On Zurich values this is frequently a five-figure question.
The evidential position, stated carefully
A privately commissioned expert report now counts as a document (Urkunde) in Swiss civil proceedings. Before the revision such reports were treated as a party's own assertion rather than as evidence.
It remains subject to the court's free evaluation of the evidence, and the court may still appoint its own expert. We make no representation about the weight any court would give a report, and none about outcomes.
What follows from that, practically, is that it is worth the report being written properly: findings separated from opinion, each item dated and photographed, the basis of each assessment stated, and the limits of the inspection set out on the face of the document rather than buried. Our reports are structured on that basis.
On the 60-day notification period that applies to contracts concluded on or after 1 January 2026: we will tell your client the date of handover and the date of the report, and we will document findings promptly. Which period applies to a given contract, and what any notification must say, is your call and not ours.
What we do not do
This is the part worth reading.
- No valuations, at present. We do not currently produce market valuations in Switzerland. Alice Carpenter is working towards MRICS and subsequently RICS Registered Valuer status; until that is in place, valuation instructions are declined and referred on. If your matter needs a value rather than a condition, we are the wrong call and will say so on the first email.
- No legal advice. We describe buildings. Rights, deadlines, notification wording and strategy are yours.
- Visual and non-invasive only. Nothing is opened up and no finishes are removed. What sits behind a closed element can be measured and assessed but not proven, and the report says which is which.
- Cause analysis has limits. Electrical safety requires a licensed Elektrokontrolleur; ventilation and heating performance require measurement by the relevant trade. Where a specialist is the correct next step, the report names it rather than speculating.
- No court-appointed expert work. We are not on a cantonal expert register and do not hold Swiss certification.
Standing and basis of practice
Alice Carpenter. BSc (Hons) Building Surveying, London, on a course accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Eleven years in technical due diligence, building defects and valuation across offices, hotels, care homes, logistics and residential portfolios in the DACH region. DESAG-certified, seal B/250907, verifiable here. Native English speaker, working also in German.
The practice is based in Germany, in Berlin, and works in Switzerland as a cross-border service provider, to Swiss standards including the SIA norms. Professional indemnity insurance is in place. Building surveying is not a protected profession in the canton of Zurich. No Swiss certification, and no BVSwiss or SwissBexA membership, is held or implied.
Who this tends to suit
- Family and divorce lawyers whose client needs the condition of the matrimonial home established, or a defect position documented, while the value question goes to a Registered Valuer.
- Estate lawyers and executors needing the condition of an inherited property recorded before heirs commit to a course of action.
- Wealth managers whose clients are buying in Zurich, Zug, Basel or Geneva and reading contracts in a second language.
- Relocation agencies and expat networks whose clients move from renting to buying and have no frame of reference for Swiss construction or Stockwerkeigentum.
How to instruct
- Email the address below with the property address, what you need established, and any deadline.
- You get a reply within one working day with a fixed price and available dates, or an honest no.
- Send the documents: plans, Baubeschrieb or purchase contract, Protokolle, and any earlier reports.
- Inspection, then the written report within 24 hours, in English or German.
Your client can be present, and usually should be. If they cannot attend we walk them through the findings by phone afterwards.
If it is easier to ask a question before instructing, do. We would rather decline early than be the wrong expert on a matter that mattered.