If you are in the process of buying a house you are probably doing a bit of research in to Home Surveys, do you need a Level 2 or a Level 3? How much do they cost? How do you find a good surveyor?
These are all important questions and if you look through my blogs you will find the answers to those and many more, but for this one I want to dig a little deeper in to what you can expect from a survey. In particular I want to look at a key feature of many surveys, condition ratings.
What is a condition rating?
Condition ratings are a way of quickly and easily conveying to a reader what state each element may be. In technical surveyor speak they are a “prioritisation system” as required by the RICS Home Survey Standard. They should be applied to each element of the property (walls, roofs, floor etc) so you can quickly and easily see what the most significant issues might be.
What do the condition ratings mean?
Most surveyors use three conditions ratings 1, 2 and 3. These are then colour coded like traffic lights so they are easy to spot.
Condition Rating 1 – this means no significant defects were found by the surveyor. This does not mean you can skip over any element with a 1 rating, just because there are no defects it does not mean the surveyor might not have included something important. This is especially the case for Level 3 surveys where they might be some vital bit of maintenance advice that you definitely need to read.
Condition Rating 2 – this rating is used when the surveyor has found one or more defects with the element but they are not that serious. Repairs are probably going to be need but you might not need to do them straight away or they are not going to cost much to do. A good example might be one misted double glazed window, this is something that might be a bit annoying but you can live with it, alternatively you can spend a little bit of money to get it sorted.
Condition Rating 3 – if you see this rating it means there is something very wrong. There are one of more defects that will either be expensive to repair, might be immediately dangerous or could cause damage to other elements of the building. A surveyor will also use this rating if they suspect a problem but cant get to the root cause and some further investigations are required. A good example of this is where they think there might a damp floor but the surveyor cant check thoroughly because there is a fitted carpet.
What should I do if there are Condition Rating 3s?
As I said these are the serious issues, stuff that could really cause a problem if nothing is done about it, issues that are going to be difficult or expensive to repair. I also use this rating if I think the repair works will be very disruptive, for example they mean you won’t be able to live in the house while the work is going on.
The first thing to do is follow the advice the surveyor has given in the report, they should have told you what to do with the level of detail depending on the level of the report. If it is a Level 3 then you should be told exactly what you need to do, if it is a Level 2 then the detail will be more brief but you should still know the next steps you should take. If in doubt you should contact your surveyor directly and they will help you along.
They key thing is to make sure if you need to have any further investigations done or get quotes then you MUST do this before you exchange contacts.
Do all surveyors use Condition Ratings?
No, not every surveyor uses condition ratings and not all use the same rating system. For example I have a fourth rating which I use for certain safety risks. Others use different systems and some don’t use them at all. Although surveyors have to use some form of prioritisation system they don’t not have to use a set system.
For those that don’t use them they argument is that they over simplify, especially when it comes to more complex reports like Level 3 surveys or inspection of historic buildings. For these more complex buildings an element might not have any significant defects but the surveyor will still need to tell you something important about either how to maintain that element or what you can or can’t do. The fear is that if you put a condition rating 1 then clients won’t read that bit and miss the vital information they may need.
Personally I see condition ratings as a useful tool and do include them within my reports but with all tools they are only as good as the person using them. A good surveyor will use condition ratings and all the other tools available to them to make sure your report is as useful to you as it can be, it guides you through the process and helps you make informed decisions about what will be one of the most important purchase in your life.
To book a survey with condition ratings or to chat about what sort of survey will suit you just click here.