Choosing a survey level
The firm is RICS-regulated and you did not meet the person who will sign the report. What should you ask about who inspected and who signs, without treating a job title as a condition rating?
Ask who walked the house and who will sign, and do not treat a job title as a condition rating. The firm is RICS-regulated, which speaks to the practice, not to a rating of the brickwork. You did not meet the person who will sign. The survey has not been signed by a title. A job title does not describe the condition of the walls, and it is not a substitute for the text you will read. The letterhead is not the inspection.
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 regulated firm can send an inspector and have another person sign, or the same person can do both. What matters is the firm's account of who inspected, who will sign, and how the visit is supervised. That is a question about the instruction. It is not a condition rating, and it does not change a crack into something else. RICS consumer material explains the survey product. It does not make a job title a substitute for the text of the report you will receive.
Write down, before the visit if you still can, who will attend and who will sign, and ask the firm to confirm it. When the report arrives, read the findings rather than the letterhead. Tell the solicitor you have asked that question so the named author is clear. Do not reject or accept a defect because of a title. The condition is whatever the report describes.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Who inspected the house, and who will sign the report?
- Will you keep that answer separate from any condition rating?
- Has the firm said how the visit is supervised if the people differ?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the firm who inspects and who signs.
- Do not treat a job title as a condition rating.
- Read the defects in the report rather than the letterhead.
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 firm is regulated, is every sentence a rating?
No. Regulation describes the firm. A condition rating, where the report uses one, describes a defect. The two are not the same, and you should not treat a job title as if it were the rating. Ask about the people, then read the findings.
Does missing the signer on the day void the inspection?
Not by itself. You should still ask who walked the house and who will sign. Missing that person on the day is a reason for the question. It is not a condition rating, and it does not invent a defect.