Survey costs
The valuation comments on damp and your survey says the wall was dry on the day. Why do you keep both documents rather than pick one?
Keep both, because they answer different questions. The valuation comments on damp as part of the lender's valuation. A down-valuation, if the lender has made one, is the lender's figure, not a defect list written by the home survey. Your survey says the wall was dry on the day it was inspected, which is a condition note from that visit. MoneyHelper is clear that a mortgage valuation is not a structural survey. Dry on one day does not delete the valuation comment, and the valuation does not rewrite the survey.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
A valuation is for the lender's security decision. The comment on damp is what that valuation recorded, in its own limits, which are often shorter than a home survey. Your surveyor used a different instruction and found the wall dry when they were there. Moisture moves with weather, ventilation and how the wall was covered. The two sentences can both be honest records of different jobs. Picking one and throwing the other away leaves either the lender or you without the paper that belongs to them.
Give your solicitor both documents and do not ask them to choose a favourite. The lender will follow its valuation. You will use the home survey to understand the building. If the damp comment still worries the lender, ask what they require, without inventing their criteria. A further damp investigation is a new instruction if someone actually wants the difference explained. Neither paper has already done that investigation. Keep the disagreement visible rather than forced into a single line.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Does a dry-day survey delete the valuation's damp comment?
- Is a mortgage valuation the same product as the home survey?
- Should one of the two documents be discarded?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the valuation and the home survey together.
- Let the lender rely on its valuation and you on the survey.
- Ask the solicitor to hold both rather than pick one.
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
Is the lender's down-valuation a room-by-room defect list?
No. A down-valuation is the lender's figure for the security, not a defect list written by the home survey. MoneyHelper distinguishes a mortgage valuation from a structural survey. Comments in the valuation are part of that lender product. They do not replace your surveyor's notes, including a wall that was dry on the day. Keep both. They are not interchangeable.
Does one dry inspection end every damp comment for good?
No. Dry on the day of the home survey is that day's finding. It does not rewrite an earlier or separate valuation comment, and it does not promise the wall stays dry in other weather. The survey did not monitor the wall. The valuation did not become your condition report. The difference is why both papers stay in the file.