Reading the report

What do condition ratings 1, 2, 3 and NI mean?

Condition ratings on a RICS Home Survey are a traffic-light summary, not a price and not a guarantee. Rating 1 means no repair is currently needed. Rating 2 means repair or replacement that is not serious or urgent. Rating 3 means serious defects, or urgent repair, replacement or investigation. NI means that part was not inspected.

Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless a source says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.

What are the official meanings of 1, 2, 3 and NI?

RICS home survey reports give condition ratings to the main elements of the building, the garage, and some outside parts. The definitions below are the ones printed in RICS’s description of the Level 3 report. The same traffic-light scale is used on the other levels. The words are the standard. The paragraphs under the number are the surveyor applying it to this house.

Condition rating 1: no repair is currently needed. The property must be maintained in the normal way.
Condition rating 2: defects that need repairing or replacing but are not considered to be either serious or urgent. The property must be maintained in the normal way.
Condition rating 3: defects that are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently. Failure to do so could risk serious safety issues or severe long-term damage to your property. RICS says written quotations for those repairs should be obtained before you are legally committed to purchase.
NI: elements not inspected. The surveyor should say if they could not check a part the inspection would normally cover. If they are concerned, the report should tell you what further investigation is needed.

You will also see R. That is not a fourth condition. RICS uses it for documents they may suggest you request before you sign contracts: guarantees, approvals, warranties. Your solicitor asks for those papers. The surveyor does not collect them.

Does the same number mean the same cost?

No. Two rating 2s can be a sticking window and a chimney that needs repointing within a year or two. Both need work that RICS does not class as serious or urgent. The bills are not alike, and only the paragraph tells you which is which. Two rating 3s can be a dangerous consumer unit and a leaking flat roof. Both are “do something before this gets worse or before someone is hurt”. Neither number is a quote.

A rating is also not a forecast of how many years the element has left. RICS does not define rating 2 as “failing within five years” or any other fixed period. If a website tells you each colour has a lifespan, that is their gloss, not the standard. Read the defect, the evidence and the advice. At Level 1 you may get the rating and a short note without repair advice. That absence is a feature of the product, not a hint that the defect is minor.

Why is NI not a clean bill of health?

NI means the surveyor did not inspect that element. Typical reasons are no safe access, a locked room, furniture, floor coverings, a loft with no hatch, or a limit written into the level you bought. The element was not given a rating 1. It was not seen. RICS is explicit that the report should flag further investigation where the surveyor is concerned about a part they could not check.

Treat NI on the roof structure, the drains, or a wall they could not see behind as a question, not as a pass. Treat NI on a shed roof, if nothing else points at it, as a limit you can live with. The difference is in the sentence next to the letters. If there is no sentence, ask the surveyor whether they have a concern. Do not invent a rating they refused to give.

What should you do with each rating before exchange?

Rating 1: plan ordinary maintenance. Do not spend the weekend pricing a defect the surveyor says is not there.
Rating 2: decide whether you want the work done soon, later, or reflected in the price. It is not, in RICS’s words, serious or urgent. A long list of them can still be a large maintenance bill. Add them up from quotes, not from the colours.
Rating 3: get the written quote or the specialist investigation before you are legally committed. That is RICS’s own instruction on the rating, not a sales line.
NI: read why, and investigate only where the hidden part could hurt you or the building if the surveyor’s worry is right.
R: send the list to your solicitor. Do not chase the surveyor for planning papers they have already told you to request.

Common questions

Does a condition rating 3 mean you should pull out?

No. RICS defines it as serious and/or in need of urgent repair, replacement or investigation, and tells you to get written quotations before legal commitment. Some rating 3 items are a day’s work for an electrician. Some are a reason to stop. The paragraph, and the quote or specialist report that follows, is how you tell them apart.

Can a stack of rating 2s be worse than one rating 3?

For your budget, yes. RICS does not add the numbers up into a score. Five separate rating 2 repairs can cost more than one contained rating 3. Urgency and seriousness are what the rating is for. The total bill is what quotes are for. Read both.

Why do services often get a poor rating or NI?

Because a Home Survey does not test the electrics, gas or heating the way a specialist does, and the standard visual inspection does not remove electrical fittings. Surveyors often rate services conservatively or mark limits when they can only see the outside of the system. The useful line is whether they saw something dangerous, or whether they are simply saying “I am not the person who certifies this”.

Are the ratings defined differently on a Level 2?

The traffic-light definitions are the RICS scale across the home survey reports. What changes with the level is how much advice sits under the number. A Level 1 can give you a rating 3 with little help on what to do. A Level 3 should explain consequences and repair options. The number is not “worse” because the report is longer.

Does rating 1 mean the element is new?

No. It means no repair is currently needed, and that normal maintenance applies. An original sash window in working order can be a 1. A new window fitted badly can be a 2 or a 3. Age is not the rating.

Who chooses the rating?

The surveyor, using the RICS definitions and what they could see that day. It is a professional judgement, not a measurement you can repeat with a ruler. If you disagree, ask what they saw. Another surveyor may judge a borderline item differently. They should not be redefining what the numbers mean.

What if the rating and the photos disagree?

Rely on the words and ask for clarification. Photographs in a report illustrate. They do not replace the rating. A dramatic photo of a hairline crack is still a hairline crack if that is what the text says. A bland photo of a stained ceiling does not downgrade a rating 3 the text has explained.

Does a rating 3 stop a mortgage?

Not as a rule of the rating system. Lenders set their own conditions, often from their valuer’s report rather than from your Home Survey. Some will ask for work, a retention, or a specialist report if a valuation mentions structural movement, damp or another matter they care about. Your survey’s rating 3 is your information. The lender’s condition is theirs. Do not assume they are the same document.

What if the seller repairs the item after the inspection?

The rating described the day of inspection. A later repair does not edit the PDF. Ask for invoices and, where it matters, for the surveyor or a specialist to see the finished work. A painted-over stain is not evidence the leak has gone.

What is the difference between NI and an element that does not exist?

NI is for something the inspection would normally cover but could not. A flat with no chimney is not an NI chimney. The report should simply not treat a missing element as a defect. If a whole section is NI because there was no access, that is the case to read carefully. If a field is blank because the house has no garage, that is not a hidden garage.

Sources

Key facts

Rating 1: No repair is currently needed. The property must be maintained in the normal way. RICS wording.
Rating 2: Defects that need repairing or replacing but are not considered serious or urgent. The property must be maintained in the normal way. RICS wording.
Rating 3: Defects that are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently. Failure to do so could risk serious safety issues or severe long-term damage. RICS says obtain written quotations before legal commitment.
NI: Not inspected. A blank, not a pass. If the surveyor is concerned, the report should say what further investigation is needed.
R: A document mark, not a condition rating: papers RICS says you may be asked to request before you sign contracts.
What a rating is not: Not a repair price, not a life expectancy, and not proof that concealed construction is sound.