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Condition ratings

What should you do if the ratings table omits an element the later section still discusses?

Read the later section. An element missing from the summary table has not been deleted, and it has not been given rating 1 by silence. Ask the surveyor to reconcile the table with the text before you rely on the front of the report. The discussion in the section is part of the report.

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?

Templates sometimes build a table on an early page and a longer commentary afterwards. If the commentary still talks about a chimney, a flat roof or a retaining wall, and the table has no line for it, you do not yet know whether the omission is a software gap or a decision that the element was not rated. NI, rating 1 and a forgotten row are different. RICS definitions only help once you know which one was meant. Do not fill the blank with the rating you prefer.

Email the firm and ask them to confirm the rating or the NI for that element in writing. The what to do now note, including written quotations before legal commitment for a rating 3, applies to elements that are actually rating 3, not to a gap you have guessed. There is no price for a missing row. Until they answer, do not tell the seller the element passed, and do not tell the lender it failed.

What should you ask your surveyor?

  • Which elements are discussed in the text but missing from the table?
  • Is the missing line a rating, an NI, or an error?
  • Will you confirm the intended mark in writing?

What are the typical next steps?

  1. Do not treat a blank summary row as rating 1.
  2. Ask the surveyor to reconcile the table and the section.
  3. Negotiate, if at all, from the confirmed mark, not from the gap.

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 section sounds calm, can you ignore the missing row?

You can read the words, but you should still ask for the mark. Calm prose is not automatically rating 1.

Can you add the element to the table yourself?

You can note the query. You cannot award the rating. That is the surveyor’s job to correct.

Sources