Age and type of house

The shop below the flat is a takeaway. Can the survey rate late-night noise as condition rating 3?

No. Late-night noise from a takeaway under the flat is not condition rating 3. Rating 3 is for a building element that is serious or urgent, where you should obtain written quotations before a legal commitment. Noise, smell and opening hours are occupation matters the surveyor may mention so you are not surprised. They are not a failed roof or a cracked wall. Services in the flat were not safety-tested. The survey does not set the shop's hours.

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?

Condition ratings describe elements of the building the surveyor inspected: roofs, walls, floors, services as seen. Rating 1 means no repair is currently needed. Rating 2 means repairs or replacements are needed but they are not serious or urgent. Rating 3 means serious or urgent. A takeaway can make a flat harder to live in without any of those elements being defective. The surveyor can note grease on a shared ceiling, a vibrating duct or a stained wall if those were visible. The fact that customers queue at midnight is not a crack, and it does not become rating 3 by being annoying.

If you do not want to live over that shop, that can be a reason to walk away or to renegotiate, but it is your decision, not a rating the report was wrong to withhold. Do not ask the firm to recode the neighbourhood as rating 3. Do ask them whether the ceiling, the fire separation they could see, and any duct are in poor repair, because those are condition. The survey does not licence the takeaway and does not rewrite its hours. Your solicitor can look at user clauses. The visual visit still has not safety-tested the flat's services.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Did you see a building defect linked to the shop, as against noting that a takeaway is there?
Which element, if any, is rating 3, and is it the fabric rather than the noise?
Are the flat's services recorded as not safety-tested?

What are the typical next steps?

Decide whether you can live with the takeaway. Do not disguise that choice as a rating.
Follow up real fabric defects separately, with quotes if they are serious or urgent.
Ask your solicitor about the shop's permitted use. Do not ask the survey to set hours.

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

Can smell or noise ever be mentioned in the report?

Yes, as context. Mentioning them does not turn them into rating 3. Rating 3 is for serious or urgent defects in the building element.

If the ceiling is cracked and greasy, is that the same point as late-night noise?

No. The crack is condition and can be rated. The hours are not a construction defect.