Choosing a survey level
The broker has booked the mortgage valuation and called it the survey. What will that valuation not describe?
Not the survey. A mortgage valuation the broker has booked is for the lender, and MoneyHelper is plain that a valuation is not a structural survey. Calling it the survey does not make it one. It will not describe the home the way a RICS home survey does: it is not a Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3 bought for you, and it will not give you that report's account of condition, repairs and maintenance. The lender wants a valuation for the loan. You, if you want a survey, still need to instruct one. The booking name does not do it.
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?
Brokers arrange the valuation because the lender asks for it. The report, if you see it at all, is shaped by the lender's question, not by your wish to understand a roof, a crack or a flat. MoneyHelper separates that valuation from a structural survey so buyers do not rely on the wrong product. A home survey is the instruction you make, at a level you choose. The valuation does not become Level 2 because the broker used the word survey on the phone.
Ask the broker, in writing, what was booked: a mortgage valuation only, or a home survey as well. If only the valuation was booked, instruct the survey yourself and do not wait for the valuation to describe defects it was not asked to describe for you. Do not invent a price difference. The point is the job. A valuation can matter to the loan and still leave you without a surveyor's account of the building.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Was the booking a mortgage valuation, a home survey, or both?
- Who is the client for the valuation the broker arranged?
- What condition questions will that valuation not answer for me?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the broker to confirm that only the valuation was booked.
- Instruct your own home survey if you want the building described.
- Do not treat the valuation as a Level 2 or Level 3.
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
Does the lender's valuation describe repairs for you?
No. MoneyHelper says a mortgage valuation is not a structural survey. It will not do the job of a home survey you instruct.
If the broker called it a survey, has the level been chosen?
No. A nickname is not a Level 1, 2 or 3. Ask what product was actually booked before you rely on the booking.