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Choosing a survey level

The quote for a house in Belfast names an English-style Level 2. Why should you not relabel that instruction as a Scottish Home Report?

Because the quote is for an English-style Level 2 on a house in Belfast, and a Scottish Home Report is a different product for sales in Scotland. Relabelling the instruction pretends you are buying a pack the firm has not offered. A Home Report has a single survey and valuation, a property questionnaire, and an energy report. Do not invent a Northern Ireland form and call this Level 2 that form. A buyer in Belfast is not automatically buying a Scottish pack.

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?

Level names travel more easily than legal systems. In the RICS home survey range, Level 2 is aimed at a conventional house in reasonable condition, and it can be survey only or survey plus valuation and reinstatement. That is the English-style product the quote has named. Scotland's seller-provided Home Report is not produced by changing the city on that quote to Belfast. Northern Ireland is not told, by either of those descriptions, to use the Scottish pack. Inventing a local form, or a rule that Belfast must have one, goes beyond the documents you can cite.

Ask the firm to confirm, in the quote, what they will inspect and whether any valuation is included. Do not add the words Home Report to the heading. RICS says a purchaser can rely on a Home Report. That reliance sits with the Scottish pack, not with a Level 2 you retitle. If you want Scottish paperwork, you are in the wrong country for this house. If you want the Level 2, accept it under that name and compare it with Level 3 only if the building is older, altered, unusual, or you plan major works. The Belfast address does not do the relabelling for you.

What should you ask your surveyor?

  • Does the quote say Level 2, and does it say whether a valuation is included?
  • Which part of a Scottish Home Report is missing from that quote?
  • Are you about to invent a Northern Ireland form name the quote does not use?

What are the typical next steps?

  1. Keep the Belfast instruction labelled as the Level 2 that was quoted.
  2. Do not call it a Home Report.
  3. Ask the firm to confirm scope in writing before you instruct.

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

Is Northern Ireland covered by telling the seller to produce a Home Report?

No. Do not invent that duty. A Home Report is the Scottish pack, not an English-style Level 2 in Belfast.

Does Level 2 automatically include a market valuation?

Not automatically. It can be survey only, or survey plus valuation and reinstatement. Read the quote.

Sources