Survey costs
The lender wants a retention until the roof is repaired. Has your survey set that retention, or has the lender?
The lender has set the retention. Your home survey has not. A retention is the lender holding back part of the loan until the roof is repaired. That decision sits in the mortgage offer, not in the condition report. MoneyHelper describes a mortgage valuation as a check for the lender, not a structural survey. A down-valuation is the lender's figure, not a defect list written by the home survey. The survey can describe the roof. It has not chosen the holdback and it has not priced the repair.
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?
Lenders protect the loan. If their valuer or their criteria flag the roof, they may hold money, ask for work, or ask for a specialist note. Those are lending conditions. Your survey, if you have one, tells you what was wrong with the covering in plain inspection terms. The two documents can mention the same roof and still do different jobs. The surveyor does not arrange the retention and does not release it when the work is done.
Ask the broker or the solicitor for the offer wording: what is held, what work they say will release it, and whether they want their own valuer to see the repair. Do not invent a figure the offer does not state, and do not send the survey as if it had set one. A roofer can quote the work. The survey has not produced that quote and has not told you the lender's holdback equals the cost.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Where in the mortgage offer is the retention written?
- Does the offer name the roof repair that would release it?
- Has anyone confused the mortgage valuation with the home survey?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the retention in the lender's offer, not in the survey.
- Ask the solicitor what evidence the lender wants when the roof is repaired.
- Get a roofer's quote separately, and do not treat the holdback as that quote.
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
Is the mortgage valuation the same document as the home survey?
No. MoneyHelper describes a mortgage valuation as a check on price or the loan for the lender. It is not a structural survey and it does not walk the house the way a home survey does. The retention comes from the lender. If a valuation mentioned the roof, that is still their paper. Your survey's description of defects is a different report.
Does the retention sum equal what the roof repair will cost?
No. The survey has not priced the roof, and a retention is not a quote. The lender holds back what the offer states, for the lender's own reasons. A roofer's price can be higher or lower than that holdback. Do not budget the repair as if the retention figure were an estimate written by the surveyor.