Your offer is in, the mortgage is moving, and now someone wants £500 or so for a survey. The surveyor will spend two or three hours in the house, and you want to know what that buys. The honest answer is a careful look at the building on one day by someone who knows a bad crack when they see one. That is worth having, and narrower than most buyers assume.
What are the three RICS survey levels?
The RICS Home Survey Standard, in force since March 2021, sets three levels. Level 1 is a condition report: traffic light ratings, no advice, suited to newer conventional homes. Level 2 is the one most buyers get. It adds the surveyor's opinion on defects, repairs and maintenance, and can include a valuation. Level 3, the old building survey, is longer and goes deeper on construction, defects and repair options.
Your lender's valuation is none of these. It is a short visit, sometimes a desk exercise, to confirm the house is worth the loan. It tells you almost nothing.
What can the surveyor actually see on the day?
A level 2 surveyor inspects what is visible and accessible. They will use a damp meter on walls at ground level, say whether cracks look old, cosmetic or moving, check the roof from the ground or a ladder to about three metres, look in the loft if the hatch is reachable, run the taps, look at the boiler and fuse board without testing them, and note the windows, gutters, drains and boundary walls.
They do not lift carpets or floorboards, move the wardrobe, open up walls, or test the electrics, gas or heating. If the seller has stacked boxes against the chimney breast, that wall goes unseen, and the report says so in the limitations section.
What can a survey never tell you?
The building is only half the story, and a survey covers only the building. It will not tell you the sewer runs under the extension, that the council issued a Section 114 notice last year, that the freeholder has lost three tribunal cases, that a coal seam was worked 40 metres down in 1890, or that next door has a two storey side extension in for decision next month. None of that is visible from the garden. All of it is in a public register.
A surveyor might flag radon or mining as a possibility based on the area, but they are not checking the register for you.
When should I pay for a level 3 survey?
Go level 3 if the house was built before about 1900, has been extended or converted, has a thatched, flat or unusual roof, shows any sign of movement, has been empty, or is listed. If a level 2 report comes back with red ratings and "further investigation recommended", get that done before exchange, not after.
How does telling the surveyor what you found change the survey?
Surveyors work to a brief. Tell them the house sits on shrinkable clay and they will spend longer on the cracks and the drains. Tell them the drainage search shows a shared sewer at the back and they will look at the ground there. Mention knotweed reported on the street and they will walk the boundary properly. A surveyor who arrives cold does a general inspection. One who arrives briefed does a targeted one, for the same fee [ask: questions-to-ask-when-viewing].
So before the visit, send them what the registers say and ask: "Given the flood zone and the clay, is there anything you would look at more closely?" Afterwards: "What could you not see, and does any of it worry you?" "Which of these repairs would you do in year one?" "Is there anything here I should send to my solicitor?"
How Eavesdrop checks this
Eavesdrop does not survey the building; it reads the registers around it: British Geological Survey and Coal Authority data for the ground, Environment Agency flood maps, the council's planning register, Land Registry for the title, and the First-tier Tribunal for the freeholder. Take the report to your surveyor [check: subsidence]. Before you offer. Before you sign. Eavesdrop.
Quick answers
Is a level 2 survey the same as a homebuyer survey? Yes. RICS renamed the HomeBuyer Report as the Level 2 Home Survey in 2021. It is the middle of three levels.
Does a level 2 survey check the electrics and boiler? No. The surveyor looks at them and notes their age and condition but does not test them. You would need an electrician and a Gas Safe engineer for that.
Does a survey cover flood risk, mining or planning next door? No. Those sit in public registers, not in the building, and a survey inspects the building. Your solicitor's searches and your own checks cover them.
Sources: RICS Home Survey Standard (2021); RICS guidance on Level 1, 2 and 3 Home Surveys; Coal Authority mining reports; Environment Agency Flood Map for Planning.
