Renegotiating or walking away
The lender's figure is short of the agreed price and the only survey note on the roof is a rating 2. Why is the shortfall not a translation of that rating into pounds?
The shortfall is not that rating 2 rewritten as money. The lender's figure comes from the mortgage valuation, and a mortgage valuation is not a structural survey. The roof note is a condition label in the home survey. It is not a price, and it is not the arithmetic behind the gap between the agreed price and the lender's figure. The survey has not priced the roof. Do not invent a repair bill and then call that bill the shortfall.
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 condition label records what the surveyor thought the roof needed by way of repair or investigation. It does not contain a number of pounds, and this page will not invent one. The lender's figure is a valuation result reached on the lender's instruction. MoneyHelper is clear that a mortgage valuation is not a structural survey. The two documents can sit on the same house and still answer different questions. Subtracting one from the other does not turn a roof label into the reason the figure is short.
Ask the lender, through your broker or solicitor, what the valuation figure is based on, and do not supply a repair sum the survey never wrote. If you want the roof label explained, ask the surveyor what was seen, not what it costs. Keep the valuation and the home survey apart. The shortfall is not a translation of rating 2, and the report has not produced one.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Is the lender's figure a valuation result rather than a roof price?
- Did the home survey leave rating 2 as a condition label, not a sum?
- Have you kept the mortgage valuation separate from the roof note?
What are the typical next steps?
- Do not convert the roof rating into a repair sum.
- Ask the lender what the valuation figure is based on.
- Keep the home survey and the mortgage valuation as separate documents.
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 roof is the only rating 2, must it explain the whole gap?
No. A single condition label does not explain a valuation gap. The survey has not priced that roof, and a mortgage valuation is not a structural survey. The shortfall stays the lender's figure, not a translation of the note. Do not invent a repair bill to explain the gap.
Can the surveyor rewrite rating 2 as the lender's deduction?
No. The surveyor does not set the lender's figure, and the lender's valuation is a different job. Rating 2 remains a condition label. It is not rewritten as money by the home survey. MoneyHelper treats a mortgage valuation as not a structural survey. The two jobs stay apart.