Condition ratings
If the boundary wall is condition rating 3 and the house is rating 1, has the house failed?
No. The rating 3 belongs to the boundary wall, while rating 1 on the house means no repair is currently needed to those elements. Do not transfer the wall’s rating onto the house or average them. RICS says to get written quotations before legal commitment where an element is rating 3.
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 garden wall, a retaining edge or a boundary fence line can be serious while the rooms are fine. The Level 3 definitions keep the ratings on elements. Rating 3 is serious or urgent, or both. Rating 1 is no repair currently needed. The what to do now note is advice to you, the buyer, about the rating 3 element. It is not an invoice to the seller for the whole property, and it is not a statement that the brickwork of the house has the same defect.
Get a quotation for the wall if you need one before you commit, and describe it as the wall. A builder who prices a new house roof because a garden pier is leaning has not priced the element. The survey does not decide whose wall it is, and it does not serve any notice. Ask the solicitor about ownership and access. There is no RICS rule that a single outside rating 3 regrades every rating 1 inside.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which element is rating 3, in words?
- Are the house elements separately rating 1?
- Are you expecting quotes for the wall, or for the whole house?
What are the typical next steps?
- Quote the wall, not a rebuilt house.
- Ask the solicitor who owns and repairs that boundary.
- Do not tell the lender the house was rating 3 if the house elements were rating 1.
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
Does the same logic apply to a cracked path?
Yes. Rate the path as the path. Do not export it onto the main walls unless the report has done that, with reasons.
If the wall is a retaining wall holding the house, does that change the reading?
Read the words. If the survey links the wall to the house, follow that link. If it does not, do not invent one.