Choosing a survey level
A Scottish Home Report is more than one document. Which part is the single survey, and which part is not a condition rating?
The single survey is the condition part of the Home Report. The energy report is not a condition rating, and nor is the property questionnaire. A Home Report is the Scottish product a purchaser is pointed to. It is a pack, not one undifferentiated report, and it is not an English Level 2 you instruct yourself. The single survey is the survey of the property inside that pack. The energy report deals with energy performance. The property questionnaire is the seller's answers. Only the single survey is the condition survey. The other parts are not condition ratings wearing different covers.
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?
People often say Home Report when they mean the whole pack the seller provides in Scotland. Inside it, the single survey is where condition is described. An energy note answers a different question and does not rate an element the way the single survey does. The questionnaire is what the seller has stated. It can be useful, and it can be wrong, and it is still not the surveyor's condition assessment. Keeping the three names straight stops a seller's sentence being argued as the single survey.
Ask the solicitor, if you are buying in Scotland, which pages are the single survey. Do not lift a line from the energy report and call it the condition of the house. A Home Report is the Scottish product a purchaser is pointed to. It is not an English Level 2 you commission yourself, and nothing here invents how long the pack lasts. If you want a different inspection, that is a fresh instruction with a Scottish solicitor, not a relabelling of one part as another.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which pages are the single survey, as against the energy report?
- Is the property questionnaire the seller's statement rather than a condition rating?
- Have you treated the pack as an English Level 2 you instructed?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read condition from the single survey, not from the other parts.
- Keep the energy report and the questionnaire under their own names.
- Do not treat the Home Report as an English Level 2 you instructed.
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 energy report and the single survey disagree, which is the condition?
The single survey is the condition part. The energy report is not a condition rating. A Home Report is the Scottish product a purchaser is pointed to, and the parts do different jobs. Disagreement is a reason to read both carefully, not a reason to average them into one verdict.
Is the valuation section of a single survey the whole Home Report?
No. The single survey sits inside the pack with the energy report and the property questionnaire. A valuation section, where the single survey has one, is still not those other documents, and it is not an English Level 2 you instruct yourself. The pack remains more than one document.