Radon
You have paid for an address-level radon search. What measurement in the living room has that search not carried out?
The search has not measured radon in the living room at all. An address-level search is a desk product about that address. It is not a monitor left in the room, and it is not a reading of the air you would sit in. Paying the fee buys the search. It does not buy a measurement. The home survey has not tested radon either. Maps and published levels describe risk information. They are not a result from this living room, and no such result should be invented from the fee.
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?
People hear that they have paid for radon and assume the house has been tested. A search says what the datasets say for the address, not what a detector would record in the room. The living room was not measured, because a search does not go there, and the surveyor did not measure it either. If you need a measurement, that is a separate radon test. The receipt for the search is not that test.
Read the search for what it says about the address, and tell the solicitor it is not a living-room measurement. If the result makes you want a test, instruct a radon measurement separately. Do not describe the fee as proof the air was sampled. Do not write a figure into the survey that neither the search nor the visit produced. The home survey remains silent on a test it did not carry out.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did anyone place a monitor in the living room, or only run an address search?
- What does the search report actually say, as against a room measurement?
- Has the home survey added any radon test of its own?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the fee as an address search, not a living-room measurement.
- Do not invent a room result the search did not produce.
- Instruct a separate radon test if you need the air in the room measured.
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 search comes back low, has the living room been cleared?
No. A low search result is what the address dataset says. It is not a measurement of the living room, because that measurement was not carried out. The home survey did not test the air either. You may take comfort from the search for what it is. You should not rewrite it as a detector that sat in the room.
Does the survey fee include this radon search?
Not unless your quote said so. An address-level radon search is its own product, and paying for it still does not measure the living room. The home survey is a different inspection and did not test radon. Keep the receipts apart. Do not assume one fee bought both a survey and a room measurement.