Seller-side surveys
You are selling and you would rather the loft hatch stayed shut. What does a not-inspected loft become in the buyer's report?
Not a sound loft: a hatch you keep shut becomes a not-inspected loft in the buyer's report. The surveyor records the limit. They do not record a clean roof space they were not allowed to see. Not inspected is the absence of an inspection, not a pass, and not a quiet compliment. The report is for the client named in the terms, which on a buyer's survey is the buyer. Your preference to keep the hatch shut does not rewrite that note into something kinder.
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?
Sellers sometimes hope a closed hatch reads as 'nothing to say'. In the report it reads as not inspected, which a buyer is entitled to treat as a gap. The surveyor should say they could not enter, not invent the timbers, the felt or the tank. That gap sits in the buyer's document. It is not your certificate that the loft is dry. Wanting the hatch shut is an access choice. The consequence is a limitation paragraph, not silence that helps the sale.
If you are the seller, understand that the buyer's survey will carry the limit forward into their decision. If you are the buyer, do not average 'not inspected' into a satisfactory roof. Ask what would be needed to see the loft before you rely on anything else in the roof section. This is not a confidentiality statute. It is the inspection record: the hatch stayed shut, so the loft was not inspected, and the report says so for the named client.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- If the hatch stays shut, will the loft be written as not inspected?
- What will you refuse to guess about timbers you could not see?
- Is not inspected a limit, rather than a pass, in the buyer's report?
What are the typical next steps?
- Expect a not-inspected loft if the hatch stays shut.
- Do not read that phrase as a sound roof space.
- Arrange access if the loft must actually be seen.
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 landing ceiling looks perfect, is the loft inspected?
No. The ceiling below is not the loft space. With the hatch shut, the loft in the buyer's report is not inspected and is not a pass.
Can the seller's own old survey fill the gap?
No. Another report, for another client, does not inspect the loft today. The buyer's report still records the closed hatch as not inspected.