You can hear the next plot through the party wall. Has the new-build survey measured the sound insulation?

What is the fuller explanation?

Party walls on new estates are easy to misread. You hear a radio and conclude the wall has failed a standard. You might be right that the wall is performing poorly, or you might be hearing a gap, a socket back-to-back, an unstopped service hole, or simply a loud neighbour in an otherwise ordinary wall. A home survey does not measure sound insulation. It can record that noise was apparent and can look for obvious gaps at the skirtings or around pipes. It cannot produce the test a building-control body would recognise as a sound test, and it should not invent a number.

Tell the surveyor what you heard and when, so the report can separate your observation from theirs. Ask the solicitor whether any sound test for this plot is in the completion pack. Do not write a fictional result into a complaint to the builder. If a test is what you want, commission one. Until then, the fair sentence is that transmission was noticed and was not measured. A condition rating built on a guess at decibels would overclaim what the visit did.

What should you ask your surveyor?

• Did you measure sound, or only note that noise was apparent?
• Were there visible gaps that might explain what the buyer heard?
• Will the report avoid quoting a decibel figure it did not take?

What are the typical next steps?

1. Record noise as noticed, not as a measured test.
2. Ask the solicitor whether a sound test is already in the pack.
3. Commission a real test if a number is what you need.

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

Which pages should you read next?

• Customer care has sent a ticket number for a cracked tile. Does that ticket number open the insurance section of a 10-year new-build policy?
• A snag was marked as painted, and the crack has come back. Has that snagging line become a RICS condition rating?
• What should you do if a parking space or store on the lease plan cannot be found on site?
• Guide: Do you need a snagging survey on a new-build home?
• All UK home survey questions

Sources

• RICS: Description of the RICS Home Survey Level 3 (condition rating definitions)
• RICS: RICS Home Surveys (Home Survey Standard)
• RICS: House surveys: the costs, types and benefits of an RICS home survey