Condition ratings
Should a rating 2, seen beside slipped creasing tiles, be treated as a verdict on a rating 3 the number 2 is not?
No. A rating 2 beside slipped creasing tiles is not a verdict that the defect is a rating 3. Rating 2 means defects that need repair but are not serious or urgent. Rating 3 means serious and/or urgent repair, replacement or investigation. Creasing tiles are the small weathering course, often under a coping, and slipped ones have moved in their bedding. The survey has applied rating 2 to that defect. It has not regraded it to rating 3. The number 2 should not be read as the number 3. NI means not inspected, not a pass, and that is a different mark from either number.
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?
Slipped creasing tiles let water in behind a coping or down the face of a wall, so they do need repair. On the RICS scale, needing repair is not the same as being serious or urgent. That difference is what rating 2 is for. Rating 3 would be used if the surveyor judged the defect serious or urgent, or if investigation were required in that stronger sense. Here the number given is 2. Promoting it because the tiles have slipped adds a seriousness the report did not give.
Ask the surveyor what repair the rating 2 creasing tiles need, and whether anything about them was serious enough that rating 3 was considered and rejected. Tell the solicitor the defect is rated 2, not 3. Do not brief a lender that the wall is in the serious category. A bricklayer can reset the tiles. That is consistent with defects that need repair but are not serious or urgent. Leave the number as it was given.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What did you see on the creasing tiles that led to rating 2 rather than 3?
- Does rating 2 here mean repair that is not serious or urgent?
- Have you ruled out reading this defect as rating 3?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the slipped creasing tiles at rating 2.
- Ask the surveyor what repair that rating is pointing to.
- Do not tell a lender the defect was rated 3.
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
Do slipped tiles become rating 3 after another winter?
The report does not say that. Rating 2 means defects that need repair but are not serious or urgent, judged on the day. It is not a forecast, and it is not rating 3, which means serious and/or urgent repair, replacement or investigation. A later change would need a later look. This number stays 2 until someone inspects again and regrades it.
Is NI the right mark if the coping hid some tiles?
Only for the tiles that were not seen. NI means not inspected, not a pass. Tiles that were seen slipped, and those were given rating 2, which is not a rating 3. Hidden tiles, if any, are not covered by the number 2 and are not a pass. Ask the surveyor which length of creasing was actually in view.