Choosing a survey level
You were at the mortgage valuation and the valuer did not go into the cellar. Why is that visit still not a survey of the cellar?
That visit is still not a survey of the cellar, because a mortgage valuation is not a structural survey and the valuer never went down. You were there, and the cellar was not entered, so nothing in it was inspected. Even the rooms that were entered were not being surveyed as a home survey. MoneyHelper draws that distinction. There is no valuation comment that can be stretched into a cellar survey. A home survey, if you instruct one, is a different visit.
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 mortgage valuation is for the lender's security. It is a short look for a lending decision, not an inspection of every space. Missing the cellar means the valuer has no note from inside it at all: not the floor, not the joists overhead, not the damp on the walls. Being in the house at the same time does not fill that gap. Your presence is not an inspection. The cellar remains unseen by that visit.
If you need the cellar described, instruct a home survey that includes it, and do not ask the lender to rebadge the valuation. Tell the solicitor the valuation did not enter the cellar. Do not invent what a valuer might have said if they had gone down. MoneyHelper's point stands: the valuation is not a structural survey, of the cellar or of anywhere else.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did the valuer leave the cellar unentered?
- Is the mortgage valuation still not a survey of that cellar?
- Would a home survey be a separate instruction if the cellar must be seen?
What are the typical next steps?
- Do not treat the valuation as a cellar survey.
- Instruct a home survey if you need the cellar inspected.
- Tell the solicitor the valuer did not go down.
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 valuer stood at the cellar door, does that count?
No. Standing at a door is not entering, and it is still a mortgage valuation rather than a structural survey. The cellar itself was not inspected. MoneyHelper's distinction remains. A look from the threshold does not describe the cellar the valuer did not enter.
Does a comment about the ground floor cover the joists underneath?
No. Joists seen only from above, if they were seen at all, are not a cellar inspection. The valuer did not go into the cellar, so the underside was not part of that visit. A mortgage valuation is not a structural survey of the space below the floor.