THE MAP / EVERY SURVEY TYPE
Types of
house survey.
Six things get called a survey during a house purchase. Only three of them are RICS home surveys, only one of those is right for your property, and one of the six is not carried out for you at all.
Skip the reading — run the 20-second checker →THE ANSWER / READ THIS FIRST
Three RICS levels, a lender's valuation, a snagging inspection and specialist reports.
Most buyers need a Level 2. Older, altered or unusual properties need a Level 3. The lender’s valuation is not a survey for you, whoever pays for it. Snagging applies to new builds, and specialist reports come after a survey rather than instead of one.
01 / THE SIX
What each one actually is.
- 01Level 1
RICS Home Survey Level 1, the Condition Report. Ratings with minimal explanation and no advice. Suitable only for a modern, conventional property in visibly good order — which is why very few buyers should choose it.
- 02Level 2
RICS Home Survey Level 2, formerly the HomeBuyer Report. Every accessible element inspected, rated and explained, with repair advice and points for your conveyancer. The right survey for most conventional homes, from £335. The full Level 2 guide →
- 03Level 3
RICS Home Survey Level 3, the Building Survey — once called a full structural survey. Causes, urgency, repair options and the cost of inaction, not just condition. The right choice for anything pre-1930, extended, unusual or tired, from £570. The full Level 3 guide →
- 04Valuation
The mortgage valuation. Commissioned by your lender, for your lender, to confirm the property is adequate security for the loan. Often paid for by you, and routinely mistaken for a survey. It is not one. Why the difference matters →
- 05Snagging
A new-build snagging inspection. Not a condition assessment but a defect and finish list for the developer to put right, timed around handover while the build warranty and your leverage are both live. Snagging scope and timing →
- 06Specialist
Focused investigations: damp diagnosis, timber decay, a drainage camera survey, a structural engineer’s report on movement. Commissioned after a home survey flags something, to answer one question properly rather than to replace the survey.
02 / THE REAL DECISION
For most buyers
it is two options.
Strip out the valuation, snagging and specialist reports and the choice is Level 2 or Level 3. Six things push you to the deeper survey: pre-1930 construction, an extension or conversion, non-standard build such as stone, timber frame or concrete, listed or conservation-area status, a property that is visibly tired or long empty, and major work planned. Any one of them is enough.
Around Yorkshire in particular, where so much of the housing stock is pre-1919 stone terrace, those triggers fire far more often than the national averages suggest. Compare the two side by side →
03 / THE OLD NAMES
Same survey, different decade.
Half the confusion in this market is vocabulary. HomeBuyer Report is the former name for the Level 2. Full structural survey is the former name for the Level 3 Building Survey. Home condition survey is a broadly comparable product offered by non-RICS bodies. Firms use all of these interchangeably, so when you are comparing quotes, ignore the label and ask which RICS Home Survey level is being priced. It is the only term with a defined scope behind it. How to check who you are instructing →
04 / SCOTLAND + NORTHERN IRELAND
The same levels,
a different order.
In Scotland, the seller commissions a Home Report before marketing, which includes a single survey and valuation for prospective buyers to read. Buyers there often still commission their own Level 3 on an older property, but the sequence is reversed: the survey usually comes before the offer rather than after it. Northern Ireland follows the England and Wales pattern.
05 / PICK ONE
The type is a two-minute decision. The price should be too.
The 20-second checker asks the questions a surveyor would ask and names the level. The published price register then gives the fixed total for either one before you enter a single contact detail — and nobody else in the transaction is going to start this for you.
STRAIGHT ANSWERS
Before you ask.
01What are the different types of house survey?+
For a UK buyer there are three RICS home survey levels — Level 1 Condition Report, Level 2 HomeBuyer Report and Level 3 Building Survey — plus the mortgage valuation, which is not a survey for you, new-build snagging inspections, and specialist investigations such as damp, timber, drainage or structural engineering reports.
02Which type of house survey is most common?+
The Level 2 is the survey most buyers take, and it suits most conventional houses, bungalows and flats built after roughly 1930 in apparently reasonable condition.
03What is the difference between a Level 2 and a Level 3 survey?+
A Level 2 records the condition of each element with a traffic-light rating and advises on repairs. A Level 3 goes further and analyses causes, urgency, repair options and the consequences of doing nothing. Level 3 is the right choice for older, altered, unusual or visibly tired properties.
04Is a HomeBuyer Report the same as a Level 2 survey?+
Yes. HomeBuyer Report is the former name for what RICS now calls the Home Survey Level 2, and many firms still use both terms. In the same way, a full structural survey is the older name for the Level 3 Building Survey.
05Do I need a survey if the lender is doing a valuation?+
Yes. A mortgage valuation is commissioned by the lender to confirm the property is adequate security for the loan. It is not carried out for you, it does not report condition in useful detail, and you generally cannot rely on it.
06Which type of survey do I need for a new build?+
A snagging inspection, which lists defects and unfinished work for the developer to put right before or shortly after completion. It is a different exercise from a RICS home survey and is usually timed around handover.
07What is a specialist survey?+
A focused investigation of one issue — damp diagnosis, timber decay, a drainage camera survey, a structural engineer's report on movement. These are usually commissioned after a home survey has flagged something, not instead of one.
08Is a Level 1 survey ever worth it?+
Rarely. A Level 1 Condition Report gives ratings with very little explanation and no advice, and it is only suitable for a modern, conventional property in good condition. For most buyers the small saving over a Level 2 is not worth what is lost.