Surveys and inspections
| Lender's valuation | Commissioned by the lender for the lender. It confirms the property is adequate security. It is not a condition report and often involves little more than a brief inspection. |
|---|---|
| Condition report | The lightest buyer's survey. Flags visible issues by category without detailed analysis or costings. |
| Homebuyer-level survey | Mid-level. Visible and accessible elements are inspected and defects are described, usually with advice on what needs further investigation. |
| Building survey | The most thorough. Suited to older, altered or unusual buildings, and to anyone planning structural work. |
| Specialist reports | Drainage, electrical, damp and timber, structural engineering. Commissioned when a general survey flags something. |
| What none of them do | No standard survey opens up floors and walls or tests what cannot be reached. They describe what is visible on the day. |
More disappointment in a purchase comes from misunderstanding surveys than from anything a survey actually finds. The core confusion is that a buyer, having paid for a valuation as part of a mortgage application, believes the property has been checked. It has not.
Valuation is not inspection
A lender's valuation exists to protect the lender. Its question is whether the property, if repossessed, would sell for enough to cover the loan. It may be carried out remotely from comparable evidence, or in a short visit. A valuer will note something so severe that it affects security, but silence in a valuation is not a statement that the building is sound.
The levels of survey
Names and gradings differ by country and by professional body, but in practice buyers choose between three depths of inspection, plus specialists.
- A condition report categorises visible elements, typically with a simple traffic-light style rating, and stops there. It suits a modern, unaltered, well-maintained home.
- A mid-level survey inspects accessible parts, describes defects, and explains their significance and urgency. It is the common choice for a conventional house of ordinary age.
- A building survey examines construction and condition in detail, considers how the building was put together and altered, and discusses repair options. It is appropriate for older or unusual buildings, anything substantially extended, and any property where structural work is planned.
The defects that recur
Across ordinary housing stock, the same small set of findings accounts for most reports.
- Moisture: rising or penetrating damp, condensation from poor ventilation, and leaks around roof junctions and around bathrooms.
- Roof coverings and rainwater goods at or beyond their service life, often visible from the ground as slipped units or staining.
- Movement: cracking, which is very common and usually historic and stable, but which needs a professional view to distinguish from progressive movement.
- Timber decay and infestation where damp has been present, most often at ground-floor joist ends and in roof spaces.
- Services: heating, electrical and drainage installations that are old, undocumented, or altered without records.
- Alterations made without evident permission or sign-off, especially removed internal walls and converted roof spaces.
Reading a report
Two things determine whether a finding matters: how expensive it is to put right, and how urgent it is. A serious-sounding item that is cheap and can wait is not a reason to withdraw. A modest-sounding one that requires opening up the building may be. Surveys are deliberately cautious documents; the recommendation to obtain a specialist opinion appears frequently and does not by itself indicate a serious problem.
Where a report identifies something that needs further investigation, the useful next step is usually to get that investigation and a costed quotation, so the conversation with the seller is about a figure rather than an anxiety. Nothing here is advice about any particular property or transaction.