Condition ratings
If a single slate has slipped over one bedroom, has the entire roof covering been marked condition rating 3?
No. One slipped slate above a single bedroom is a local gap in the covering, not a mark against every course on the house. The line should name that slate and the slope it sits on. Slates that were seen and still seated can keep a milder judgement. Do not let the bedroom underneath turn one displaced unit into a whole-roof failure, and do not assume the rest of the covering has reached the same state.
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 slipped slate is one unit out of place on the slope the surveyor could connect with that bedroom, often because a gap, a rattle in the gutter, or a view from the ground showed it. The other courses are a separate look. Rating 3 is reserved for a defect that is serious, urgent, or both, and the note that follows asks you to obtain written quotations before any legal commitment. One displaced slate does not meet that bar unless the paragraph says the covering as a whole is in that condition. If the neighbouring slates are still seated, leave them out of the top mark.
Rating 2 is the ordinary home for a repair that is needed but is not serious or urgent, and rating 1 means no repair is currently needed beyond normal maintenance. A single slipped slate often belongs in the repair conversation, limited to that unit and its fixing, while the wider slope stays milder if that is what was seen. The what to do now note advises you as the buyer. It does not invoice the seller for a recovered roof because one slate moved. Ask a roofer about that slate and whether the courses around it are actually failing.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which slope, and which slate, is this comment about?
- Did the rest of that covering receive its own rating?
- Are you treating this one slate as serious or urgent, or as a local repair?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the roof paragraph for the named bedroom slope only.
- Ask whether any other slate on that slope had moved.
- Get a roofer to look at that slate before you call the covering failed.
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 slate is already in the gutter, is the whole covering rating 3?
No. A fallen piece is still one piece until the report says the slope has failed more widely.
Does a damp patch in that bedroom, on its own, create rating 3?
Only if the surveyor judges the leak serious or urgent. You do not award the number from the stain alone.