Condition ratings
The loft was NI because the hatch was above the three-metre ladder limit. Does naming a further investigation open that hatch today?
The hatch stays shut today. NI means the loft was not inspected, and the reason is the ladder limit in the Level 3 description: a hatch is entered with a ladder only if it is no more than three metres and it is safe. Naming a further investigation does not open that hatch on this visit. It tells you a later instruction, with its own safe access, would be needed if you want the loft seen.
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?
The three-metre limit is there so nobody treats bravery as a scope of inspection. If the hatch is higher than that, or the approach is unsafe, the surveyor does not climb, and the honest mark is not inspected. Level 1 is even less of a tool for managing the gap: it notes defects, risks and urgent matters, it does not generally tell you how to manage them, and it does not test the fabric or the services. Whatever level you bought, a sentence about further investigation is advice for afterwards. It is not a key, a scaffold or a longer ladder appearing the same afternoon.
If you still need the loft seen, that is a new arrangement: safe access no more adventurous than the next inspector is willing to accept, a written note of what they find, and no pretence that today's report already contains it. Do not stand a domestic ladder on the landing and call the result part of the survey. Concealed roof timbers stay outside any guarantee while they are unseen. Secured hatches that cannot be opened safely stay shut on a standard inspection. The words further investigation change the to-do list. They do not change what was inspected today.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Please confirm the loft is NI because of the three-metre ladder limit, not because you saw it and found it sound?
- Does naming further investigation leave the hatch unopened on this visit?
- What access would a later inspection need before you would enter?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the loft as not inspected today.
- Arrange any later look as a new instruction with safe access.
- Do not climb an unsuitable ladder to force the hatch open for this report.
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 seller fetches a long ladder, must today's surveyor go up?
Only if it is within the limit and safe, and they agree. A sentence about further investigation does not oblige an unsafe climb.
Does NI on the loft rate the covering as a failure?
No. NI means not inspected. It is not rating 3, and it is not a pass.