Choosing a survey level
The agent sent the EPC and called it the survey. What drains, electrics and structure has an energy certificate not described?
The drains, the electrics and the structure. An energy certificate has not described them. An EPC is an energy assessment: how the home is rated for energy performance, with recommendations about that performance. It is not a home survey. The agent calling it the survey does not change the document. Nobody on that certificate has inspected the drains, tested the wiring, or reported on the roof structure, the walls or the foundations as a surveyor would. Those elements are simply outside what the certificate is for. The file the agent sent is not the inspection you still do not have.
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?
Energy assessors record insulation, heating and glazing, and the certificate turns that into an energy rating. They are not instructed to lift manholes, test circuits, or trace how a floor is carried. A line about loft insulation is not a line about the rafters. If the pack contains only the EPC, drains, electrics and structure remain undescribed. The nickname the agent used is not a scope of service.
Tell the agent you will instruct a home survey, and do not let the energy certificate stand as if it were one. Your solicitor should see it as an energy document. Drains, electrics and structure, where you need them described, are a survey, and testing them is a specialist. This certificate has done neither. Do not tell a lender the property was surveyed because an EPC arrived. The energy certificate started none of that inspection.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which drains, if any, does the energy certificate claim to have inspected?
- Has anyone tested the electrics, or is that outside this document?
- Where, if anywhere, does the certificate describe structure?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the EPC as an energy certificate, not as the survey.
- Instruct a home survey if you need condition advice.
- Do not tell a lender the agent's certificate was a survey.
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
If the EPC mentions the walls, has the structure been surveyed?
No. A wall mentioned for its insulation is an energy input, not a structural inspection. The certificate has not described the structure in the way a home survey would, and it has not described the drains or the electrics either. The agent's name for the document does not add those inspections.
Can a good energy rating stand in for the missing survey?
No. An energy rating is about energy performance. It can sit alongside a badly drained house or an untested electrical installation, because it never looked at those things. You still need a survey if you want condition. The certificate has not supplied one.