Spray foam and lenders
The lender's form asks if foam is present and the survey says the loft was not opened. What should you not answer on the form from memory?
Not whether foam is present. You should not answer that question on the lender's form from memory when the survey says the loft was not opened. Memory of a viewing, a photograph in the listing, or a seller's aside is not the inspection. The survey's limit is the fact you have: the loft was not opened, so the report does not know the roof void. Ticking yes, or ticking no, invents a look that did not happen. Tell the lender the loft was not opened. Do not upgrade a gap into an answer.
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 firm box is wrong when nobody opened the hatch. Spray foam is a product you identify by seeing it, not by remembering a yellow loft or a tidy landing. RICS explains why the question matters: foam hides structure. That is a reason to be accurate, not a reason to guess. If you think you remember foam, say you think it, and say the survey did not confirm it. If you remember none, you still have not inspected the void.
Do not lean on the survey to support a tick it refused to make. Not every lender refuses foam, so the form is not a trick you must dodge with a convenient no. The safe sentence is the survey's sentence. Ask for the loft to be opened, by agreement, if the lender will not proceed on an unknown. Until then, leave the presence of foam unanswered from memory. An invented no is not kinder than an unknown, and an invented yes is not evidence.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which sentence says the loft was not opened?
- Did you see the underside of the covering, or only the hatch?
- What should I tell the lender you could not confirm?
What are the typical next steps?
- Answer the lender that the loft was not opened.
- Do not tick foam present or absent from memory.
- Ask for an agreed look into the loft if the lender needs one.
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
Can you tick no foam because the landing ceiling looked normal?
No. A ceiling is not the loft. The survey did not open the loft, so do not answer the foam question from memory.
If the seller says there is no foam, can that complete the form?
Not as the survey's finding. Their comment is not an opened loft. Keep it separate from the question the inspection could not answer.