Can you average a house with ratings 1 and 3 into an overall rating 2?

What is the fuller explanation?

The definitions are per element: 1 no repair currently needed, 2 repair but not serious or urgent, 3 serious and/or urgent, NI not inspected. A lender or a buyer who says “it came out as a 2” has invented a product RICS did not write. The decision sits with the worst items and with the NI lines, not with the mean.

When you negotiate, list the rating 3 elements and the investigations. Leave the rating 1 elements out of the argument. That is how the report is built. Your solicitor can attach the pages. They should not attach an average you calculated.

What should you ask your surveyor?

• Which elements are 3, and which are NI?
• Did you give any overall score? If not, buyers should not invent one.
• Which 3s need quotes before commitment, in your view?

What are the typical next steps?

1. Do not summarise the report as a single digit in your offer.
2. List the rating 3 items and the limits.
3. If someone else has averaged it, go back to the element table.

Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.

Also asked about this

Which pages should you read next?

• If the electrics are condition rating 3, has the surveyor completed an EICR?
• Where does RICS put the phrase about investigating urgently?
• What should you ask your solicitor before you tell the agent you are withdrawing after a survey?
• Guide: What do condition ratings 1, 2, 3 and NI mean?
• All UK home survey questions

Sources

• RICS: Description of the RICS Home Survey Level 3 (condition rating definitions)
• RICS: What to do now (consumer PDF linked from the RICS home survey guide)