Condition ratings
Your solicitor is told about a rating 3 crack. Are they the person who investigates the crack?
Not the solicitor. They are told so that the legal side of the purchase knows there is a rating 3 crack, which means something serious or urgent, and that you are being pointed toward written quotations before you enter a legal commitment. Investigating the crack, opening it or explaining the structure, is not the solicitor's work. That remains a survey or engineering instruction.
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?
Solicitors read what you send them and advise on commitment, contract and what the other side should be asked. They do not become the investigator because the report was attached to the email. The rating itself comes from the visual home survey. Rating 3 is the surveyor's grade. It is not a set of instructions the solicitor carries out with a torch. If the paragraph also names a structural engineer, that is the person who investigates. The solicitor may help you decide whether to wait for that report before you exchange. Waiting is not the same act as inspecting.
Send them the paragraph, not a retelling that upgrades or softens it. Ask them what it means for the timetable. Do not ask them to say the crack is historic, harmless or priced. No survey level guarantees the concealed fabric around a crack, which is why investigation can still be open after the rating has been given. Keep three roles apart: the surveyor rated what they could see, the specialist investigates if one is named, and the solicitor handles the legal commitment. None of those roles absorbs the others.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What do you expect me to send the solicitor, and what should I not ask them to decide?
- Is the rating 3 your finished view of what you could see, with investigation still separate?
- Who, if not the solicitor, did you name to investigate?
What are the typical next steps?
- Tell the solicitor about the rating 3 crack without asking them to inspect it.
- Instruct the investigator the report named.
- Get written quotations before a legal commitment if the rating 3 advice applies.
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 solicitor is relaxed, does the rating drop?
No. Their view of the legal risk does not regrade the crack.
Should the surveyor email the solicitor a diagnosis they did not make?
No. The surveyor should stick to the report. A new diagnosis would be a new instruction.