Condition ratings
The report has three condition rating 2s and no rating 3. Why is that not the same urgency as a rating 3?
Because three condition rating 2s are still rating 2s. Each one means defects that need repairing or replacing but are not serious or urgent. Adding them does not produce the urgency of a rating 3, and the report has no rating 3 to promote. Do not tell the agent the house is really a 3 because you counted. Do not ignore the three repairs either. They remain repairs. They are not the same as a serious or urgent defect the surveyor marked 3.
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?
Counting is how anxiety turns a list into a crisis, or how a seller turns three moderate notes into nothing. The definitions do not add up like that. Rating 3 is reserved for defects that are serious or that need urgent repair, replacement or investigation. The surveyor did not use it. Three rating 2s mean three elements need work that is not in that category. You can still care about the cost and the nuisance. You cannot relabel the category.
List the three elements and deal with them as rating 2 repairs: understand them, decide which matter to you, and do not dress them as a rating 3 to force a crisis conversation. If something in the paragraphs actually looks serious, ask the surveyor why it stayed at 2 rather than upgrading it yourself. A revision, if one is deserved, comes from them. A count of three is not that revision, and it is not a fourth, harsher rating.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What are the three rating 2 elements, in your words?
- Did you consider any of them serious or urgent, and reject that?
- What would have to be true before one of them became a rating 3?
What are the typical next steps?
- Do not add the three rating 2s up into a rating 3.
- Deal with each repair at the urgency the report gave it.
- Ask the surveyor before you relabel any of them.
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 all three are in the roof, is that a rating 3?
No. Sharing a roof does not change the definition. Three rating 2s are still not serious or urgent as rated. They are not a rating 3.
If you obtain three quotations, has the urgency changed?
No. Quotations price the repairs. They do not promote rating 2 to rating 3. The urgency stays the one the surveyor gave.