Choosing a survey level
You are choosing between Level 2 and Level 3 on a house with an uncertificated loft conversion. What question about scope should you ask before you instruct?
Ask what each level will and will not inspect in the uncertificated loft conversion before you instruct. Level 2 is aimed at a conventional house and reports mainly on what is visible without a more extensive look at concealed structure. Level 3 is the more detailed survey, used where the building is older, altered or complex. Missing papers mean nobody has yet shown how this loft was built. Neither level has inspected this house until you instruct one. The scope question is the one to settle first.
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?
An uncertificated conversion can hide altered roof timbers, a new floor, stairs, fire separation and junctions with the old roof. Those are the parts that change the risk, and they are why the level matters. A Level 2 can still comment on what the surveyor can see. It is not automatically a full account of an altered roof structure. A Level 3 is designed to go further on construction and to advise in more detail. Asking the firm what this instruction includes stops you buying the wrong depth.
Put the question in writing to the surveyor: will this level open up, or only comment from visible surfaces, on the loft floor, the roof alteration, the stairs and the party or fire separation? Ask them to say what stays outside the fee. The missing certificate is a paper the solicitor should request from the seller. The survey, at either level, does not issue that certificate. Choose the level from the answer on scope, not from the brochure title alone.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What will this level inspect in the loft conversion, and what stays out?
- Will concealed roof and floor structure be commented on only if visible?
- Does either level, once chosen, produce the missing conversion certificate?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask in writing what the level includes on the altered loft.
- Ask the solicitor to request any approval papers from the seller.
- Choose the level from the scope answer, not from the title alone.
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
Does instructing Level 2 create the missing building papers?
No. A survey level describes an inspection. It does not issue a building-regulations certificate and it does not replace papers the seller never had. Uncertificated means those papers are not in hand. Level 2 or Level 3 can report on the building to its own scope. Neither of them writes the approval that was missing before you instructed.
Will the survey you choose test the new electrics in the loft rooms?
Do not assume that. A home survey does not test the electrical installation unless the instruction actually says a test will happen. The question to ask is about scope of the building inspection. Electrics in the new rooms remain untested until an electrician is instructed. Say that limit out loud when you compare Level 2 with Level 3.