Survey costs
If you pay for a follow-up letter, have you upgraded a Level 2 into a Level 3?
No. A letter answering questions on a Level 2 is still about that Level 2, unless the terms say the firm is now instructed to carry out a Level 3. The level is the product, and RICS does not price a letter as an upgrade or publish a fee for one. Ask what any further comment costs and what it will not reopen.
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?
After a report, buyers often want a paragraph explained. That conversation or letter can be included in the original fee or charged as an extra. Either way it does not lengthen the inspection that already happened, and it does not turn Level 2 scope into Level 3 scope. If you need the fuller product, you need a Level 3 instruction, usually a new visit and a new report. Paying for prose is not the same purchase.
Ask the firm, before you send a long list, whether comments are inside the fee you have already accepted. Do not invent the extra. Do not refuse to pay an agreed extra and also demand a new level. There is no consumer-guide table that says a letter costs a fraction of Level 3. Compare a proper Level 3 quote with the letter you were offered, and choose the one that answers the decision you still have to make.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Is a written follow-up included in the fee already agreed?
- Will that letter change the level? It should not, unless a new level is instructed.
- What parts of the building will you not reopen?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the price of any extra letter before you request it.
- Commission a Level 3 only if you need a Level 3.
- Do not describe a clarification as a building 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 letter contradicts the rating, which do you follow?
Ask the firm to correct the report so the documents agree. Do not keep two conflicting versions and choose the convenient one.
Can the seller pay for the letter and change the level?
Whoever pays, the level changes only if a new level is instructed. Payment alone does not rename the product.