A mortgage valuation is not a survey and the three survey levels are not simply cheap, medium and expensive. This is what each one actually looks at, what none of them look at and how to pick the right one for the house in front of you.
Almost everybody buying a house makes the same decision the same way: the lender mentions a valuation, the estate agent mentions a survey, the numbers look similar and the cheapest option wins.
That decision is usually made in a week when you are also arranging a mortgage, a solicitor and a removal van, on the largest purchase of your life, with no way of knowing what you are choosing between.
So here is what the options are, in plain terms; and what each one will and will not tell you.
The short version
- A mortgage valuation is for the lender, not for you; it is not a survey
- Level 1 is a condition check with no advice and no valuation
- Level 2 is the usual choice for a conventional house in reasonable condition
- Level 3 is for anything old, altered, extended, unusual or visibly troubled
- No survey level tests the services, so gas, electrics and drains are separate
- In Scotland the seller provides a Home Report, so the position is different
A mortgage valuation is not a survey
This is the single most expensive misunderstanding in the process and it catches people every year.
When a lender arranges a valuation, it is answering one question for itself: if we have to repossess this property and sell it, will we get our money back? It is a check on the security, not an inspection for your benefit. It can be done from the outside, or from a desk using sold prices; the surveyor is working for the lender rather than for you.
A valuation coming back with no comment does not mean the house is sound. It means the lender is satisfied it can lend against it. Those are very different statements and the second one is the one people hear.
If you want to know about the condition of the building, you have to commission that separately.
The three levels and what each one covers
The RICS Home Survey Standard sets out three levels. Older names still float about: a Level 1 used to be a Condition Report, a Level 2 a HomeBuyer Report and a Level 3 a Building Survey or full structural survey.
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A condition check | An inspection with advice | A detailed investigation |
| Suits | New or nearly new, conventional, clearly well kept | Conventional houses in reasonable condition | Older, altered, extended, unusual or visibly troubled |
| Ratings | Traffic light condition ratings | Traffic light ratings plus advice | Full narrative on each element |
| Advice on repairs | No | Yes and what is urgent | Yes, with likely causes and consequences |
| Repair costings | No | Sometimes, if asked | Often, if asked |
| Valuation | No | Optional | Optional |
| Lifts carpets, looks in the loft | Surface only | Where reasonably accessible | As far as reasonably possible |
The honest summary is that Level 1 tells you what a careful person would notice, Level 2 tells you what a professional notices and what to do about it; Level 3 tells you why it is happening.
One thing worth knowing about all three: none of them are destructive. A surveyor does not lift floorboards, cut into walls or move heavy furniture. Anything hidden stays hidden, which is why reports so often say further investigation is needed.
How to choose
Rather than starting from price, start from the building.
Go to Level 3 if any of these are true. The property is more than about a century old. It has been extended, converted or had walls removed. It is built in something other than brick and block, such as timber frame, stone, cob or a system build. It has been empty for a while. You can already see something you do not like, such as cracking, sagging or damp staining. You are planning significant work of your own.
Level 2 is the sensible default for a conventional house of ordinary age in ordinary condition, which is most transactions.
Level 1 is genuinely useful in a narrow case: a modern property, well kept, where you want a professional pair of eyes rather than a full account.
The cost difference between levels is small set against the cost of the thing you are buying and smaller still set against one problem found late. That is not an argument for always buying the most expensive report, but it is an argument for not choosing on price alone.
Reading the report without panicking
Almost every survey on almost every house comes back with a list of concerns. That is what you paid for. A report with nothing on it would be the surprising one.
A useful way through it:
- Separate the urgent from the eventual. A leaking roof is this month. Repointing is this decade.
- Look for anything the surveyor could not see rather than anything they saw. Unknowns are where the money hides.
- Add up only what has to be done to live there safely and treat the rest as a maintenance plan.
- Where the report recommends a specialist, get the specialist before you renegotiate, so you are discussing a quote rather than a worry.
A survey is not a pass or a fail. It is a description of a building you are about to be responsible for; read that way it is the most useful document in the whole transaction.
If you are buying in Scotland
The position is different and better in one respect. A seller in Scotland must provide a Home Report before the property goes on the market, which contains a Single Survey, an energy report and a property questionnaire.
That means the survey exists before you offer, prepared by a surveyor instructed by the seller; you can read it while deciding what to bid. Buyers can still commission their own, particularly for an older property or where the Home Report flags something, but many do not need to.
If you are buying in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, nothing equivalent is provided and the survey is entirely your decision.
What to do with it afterwards
Most people read the survey once, use it to negotiate and never open it again. That wastes most of what it is worth.
The recommendations in a Level 2 or Level 3 report are, in effect, a maintenance plan for the first few years of your ownership, written by somebody who looked at your actual house. Pulling the repairs out into dated jobs turns a document you skimmed under pressure into something you can work through calmly, which is the same argument as keeping a maintenance record at all.
It is also worth keeping because you will eventually be on the other side of this. A seller who can hand over the survey from when they bought, alongside what they did about it, is answering a buyer's questions before they are asked. That is the whole idea behind a digital property logbook.
Turn the survey into a plan
homehogs keeps the report against the property and lets you turn its recommendations into dated jobs, so the list gets worked through instead of filed.
Join the waiting list