Leasehold
The agent offers an EWS1 form for a two-storey house with no cladding. What question is that form not answering here?
It is not answering the condition of this two-storey house. An EWS1 form is not a RICS home survey. Offered for a house with no cladding, it does not describe the roof, the walls, the damp or the services, and it does not stand in for the inspection you need. Do not file it as the report. The form is a different product. It does not tell you whether this unclad house is sound, and the survey does not become an EWS1 by sitting beside it.
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?
Agents produce forms because buyers have heard the initials. On a two-storey house with no cladding, the condition questions are still the ordinary ones: roof, rainwater goods, movement, damp, services and what could not be seen. An EWS1 does not walk those elements for you. It is not the home survey, and attaching it to an email does not create one. Read it, if you read it, as the form it is, not as a Level 2 or a Level 3.
Ask the surveyor to report the house in the usual way, and do not brief them to treat the form as their findings. If a lender has asked for something, let the solicitor or the broker say exactly what was asked, without you translating the form into a clean bill of health. The absence of cladding does not need a theory you invent. The point is simpler: this form is not the answer to the house's condition.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Will your inspection report this house's condition without treating the EWS1 as your findings?
- Which elements does the form not cover that you would still look at?
- Are you issuing an EWS1, or only a home survey that must not pretend to be one?
What are the typical next steps?
- Do not accept the EWS1 as the RICS home survey.
- Instruct the survey you actually need for this house.
- Do not tell a lender the form has answered the house's condition.
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 form carries a reassuring mark, has the house passed?
No. A mark on that form is not a condition rating of the roof, walls or services. The form is not the home survey of this unclad house.
Should you refuse the form and also refuse a survey?
Do not use the form as the survey. Whether you keep the paper is a solicitor's point. You still need a home survey if you want the condition of the house described.