SurveySorted
Menu
Sign in

Condition ratings

What can a condition rating on the grounds actually mean?

It means the surveyor saw something in the grounds they could inspect: a leaning wall, a dangerous path, a tree close to the house, a retaining wall. It does not decide the legal boundary, and it does not price a new garden. RICS ratings are about condition. Title is the solicitor’s, using HM Land Registry and the deeds.

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 rating 3 on a retaining wall is a prompt for a quote or an engineer if the wall holds up ground. A rating 2 on uneven paving is maintenance. Neither tells you whether the tree is in a conservation area. That is a planning question. The survey should not pretend to have checked the council’s tree list unless it says it did.

Party-wall and boundary disputes are not upgraded by the rating. GOV.UK’s party-wall guidance is about certain works, not about a cracked patio. Keep the contractor’s quote for the wall separate from the solicitor’s note on the boundary. A rating 3 on a garden wall is about that wall’s condition. It does not decide who owns the boundary and it does not serve a notice.

What should you ask your surveyor?

  • What in the grounds is rated, and what was not walked?
  • Are you commenting on a retaining wall’s condition, or on whose land it is?
  • Did you see the whole plot?

What are the typical next steps?

  1. Quote the structure that is rated. Leave the boundary to the solicitor.
  2. Do not deduct a landscaping scheme from a rating 2 on a path.
  3. If a tree is the issue, read the tree and subsidence comments before you fell it.

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 a public footpath a defect?

It is a legal fact if it crosses the garden. The survey may note it. The solicitor confirms it. It is not a crack.

Does NI on the grounds mean the garden is excluded from the sale?

No. It means those parts were not inspected. The sale is the contract.

Sources