Legal and neighbours
How should you read a garage, shed or outbuilding in a survey?
A home survey describes the condition of an outbuilding the surveyor could enter. It does not grant planning permission or building-regulations approval. The Planning Portal sets out the householder rules for outbuildings in England. Whether this shed or garage met them is for the paperwork and your solicitor, not for a guess from the floor area.
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 does the survey actually say about the outbuilding?
Look for whether they entered it. A locked garage, a shed full to the door, or a roof they could not see safely may be excluded. That exclusion is the finding. Do not assume a silent garage is sound. Level 1’s scope is a more limited visual inspection than Level 2 or 3, and outbuildings are often where the sentence “not inspected” appears.
Does a sound shed still need permission?
Yes, it might. Condition and permission are different. The Planning Portal explains when an outbuilding in England is permitted development and when it is not, including the exceptions that a summary always misses. This page will not repeat a height limit without those exceptions. Ask the solicitor for any permission, certificate of lawfulness, or evidence the seller relies on. A surveyor’s “appears recently built” is a prompt, not a decision.
- What is it used for: storage, or somewhere people sleep?
- Is it attached to the house or within the boundary in a way the Portal cares about?
- Did anyone at the firm say they were checking planning? They usually are not.
Which defects in an outbuilding actually matter?
A leaking garage roof over stored paint is maintenance. A garage whose rear wall is the retaining wall to the neighbour’s garden is structure. Services run into an outbuilding, including electrics, are the same caution as services in the house: the survey does not test them. If you plan to convert the building, the survey of a store is not a design for a room.
What if the outbuilding sits on the boundary?
Then read the party-wall page as well, and ask the solicitor who owns the wall. A building that overhangs or drains onto next door is a legal problem the condition rating will not settle. Gutters that discharge onto the neighbour’s path are also a drainage argument waiting to happen. The survey can see the gutter. The deed can say whose it is.
Common questions
The surveyor did not go in the garage. Should you care?
Yes, if you are paying for the garage as usable space. Ask for a return visit or look yourself before exchange, with the seller’s agreement. An excluded building is an unknown, not a pass.
Could the garage roof be asbestos cement?
HSE says asbestos can be in buildings built or refurbished before 2000, and cement roofs are one of the materials people meet. The survey may suspect it from the look. It should not tell you to drill it. Leave it undisturbed and take advice before you break it up. There is no removal price on this page.
The garage has power. Was it tested?
Not by a home survey as standard. A spur that looks amateurish may be commented on. An electrical installation condition report is a different instruction. Do not run a workshop off a cable the survey did not test.
Can you turn the outbuilding into an office later?
Maybe, with whatever permission and building regulations the Planning Portal and GOV.UK require at the time, and with a structure that can take the use. The current survey does not approve that future. Sleeping accommodation is a higher bar than a desk. Ask before you rely on it.
The council has not enforced. Is it lawful?
Lack of enforcement is not a certificate. Your solicitor explains lawful development, time limits and insurance. This page does not state a number of years after which every outbuilding becomes lawful. Those rules have exceptions and they change.
Does the survey include the outbuilding in the value?
Only if you bought a valuation and the valuer says what they included. A condition comment is not a value. Do not add a homemade figure for a garage the surveyor could not enter.
The shed is leaning. Is that a rating 3 on the house?
It is a comment on the shed. Ratings apply to the elements the report defines. A leaning timber shed is not the same finding as movement in the main house. Read which element the sentence is attached to.
Sources
Key facts
- Condition
- Roof, damp, structure and whether the surveyor could get in. Many outbuildings are inspected more briefly than the house. Read the limitation.
- Permission
- Planning Portal publishes the England householder guidance. This page does not restate metre limits in case they are read without the exceptions.
- Building regulations
- Some outbuildings are building work. GOV.UK explains approval. The survey does not issue it.
- Use
- A garage used as a bedroom is a different question from a garage used for a car. Say what you saw.