Condition ratings
The boiler is condition rating 2 because of its age, and it was not tested. What has the age comment not established about whether it works?
It has not established whether the boiler works. The condition rating 2 is there because of age, and the boiler was not tested. Age is not a firing, a flue check or a demonstration of hot water. The comment tells you the appliance is old enough to be rated for repair or replacement that is not, on that ground, serious or urgent. It does not tell you the boiler ran on the day, or that it failed. Do not promote the age note into a test result.
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?
Services in a home survey are not a specialist test, and a boiler that was not operated gives less. The surveyor can see a case, a flue terminal, stains or a rusty tray. Those visual points, if they exist, should be written as visual points. Age alone has a narrower meaning: the unit is old. Old units can still heat a house, and young units can fail. Neither fact is available from a sentence that stops at age and records that no test was done.
If you need to know whether it works, ask for it to be run, with the owner's agreement and the supplies on, or ask a heating engineer for their own check. That is further work. It is not hidden inside the rating 2. Do not tell the seller the survey found the boiler broken, and do not tell yourself it is fine until someone has seen it operate. Keep the rating as an age comment with an untested appliance.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Was the rating 2 based only on age, with no test?
- What, if anything, did you see that was not about age?
- What would someone need to do to establish whether it works?
What are the typical next steps?
- Do not read the age comment as proof the boiler works or fails.
- Arrange a proper look if you need to know it runs.
- Keep rating 2 as not serious or urgent, and still untested.
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 seller says it was serviced, has the survey tested it?
No. A service claim is their sentence. The survey did not test the boiler. Age rating 2 has not established whether it works.
Does rating 2 mean you must replace it before exchange?
No. Rating 2 is a repair or replacement that is not serious or urgent. It is not an order to swap the boiler, and it is not a test.