HomeBuyer
survey.

What a HomeBuyer survey is

Known formally as the RPSA Home Condition Survey, and widely as the HomeBuyer survey or a Level 2 survey, this is the report most people should get when they buy a house. I inspect the property and give each part of it — roof, walls, windows, services, drainage and the rest — a clear condition rating, with photographs and a plain-English explanation of what I found and what it means for you.

The ratings do the heavy lifting, and they’re deliberately simple:

• Condition 1 — no repair currently needed.
• Condition 2 — a defect that needs attention, but not urgently.
• Condition 3 — a defect that is serious or needs urgent attention.

You can read the whole survey at a glance and see exactly where to look closer. No jargon you have to decode, and no vague hedging that leaves you none the wiser.

Where it sits — and what it isn’t

There are three things people confuse, so it’s worth being blunt about them:

• A mortgage valuation is not a survey. It exists to reassure your lender the property is worth what they’re lending. It tells you almost nothing about the building’s condition, and you should never treat it as though it does.
• A HomeBuyer survey (Level 2) — this — reports the condition of each element and flags the defects. It suits a fairly modern, conventionally built home in reasonable order: most houses and flats built in the last century or so, not obviously altered or in poor repair.
• A Building Survey (Level 3) goes further, describing the construction in detail and explaining what’s causing a defect and how to fix it. It’s the right call for older, larger, extended, or unusually built properties — and for anything showing signs of real trouble.

I won’t sell you up. If the property in front of us genuinely needs a Level 3, I’ll say so before you book. If a Level 2 is right, that’s what you’ll pay for.

Is it right for your property?

A HomeBuyer survey is usually the sensible choice if the property is:

• Built in a conventional way — brick or block, standard roof, nothing exotic in its construction.
• Reasonably modern, or at least not heavily altered, and in broadly sound-looking order.
• Somewhere you want a clear, rated condition picture — not a forensic, cause-and-remedy dissection.

If it’s a period cottage, a listed building, a heavily extended house, timber-framed, has obvious damp or movement, or you’re planning significant works, the fuller Building Survey earns its extra cost. Not sure which you need? Tell me about the property and I’ll give you a straight answer.

What happens on site, and after

I inspect the property in person — into the roof space, at the services, around the drainage, across every accessible element inside and out. The visit typically takes one and a half to three hours depending on size. You then get the written report with its condition ratings and photographs, and — the part that matters most — a conversation about it. I’ll talk you through what I found, what I’d prioritise, and what it’s likely to cost, so nothing in the report is left as a question mark.

Do the survey and the EPC together

Because I’m a domestic energy assessor as well as a surveyor, I can produce the property’s Energy Performance Certificate on the same visit if you need one — useful if you’re buying to let, or simply want the energy picture alongside the condition one. One appointment, two jobs done.

Areas I cover

I’m based in Hartfield, East Sussex, and carry out HomeBuyer surveys across Kent, Sussex, Surrey and the London fringe — including Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, East Grinstead, Crowborough, Uckfield, Forest Row, Edenbridge, Crawley, Horsham and the towns and villages between.