Survey costs
How should a buyer separate a valuation retention, aimed at the roof and a condition survey the retention is not when all three are mentioned together?
Separate a valuation retention aimed at the roof from the roof itself and from a condition survey. The retention, if the lender has set one, is a holdback in the mortgage offer. It is not a condition survey of the covering. The roof is the building element the holdback is aimed at. A home survey is the document that describes condition. The retention is not that survey. MoneyHelper is clear that a mortgage valuation is not a structural survey. Do not merge the holdback with a condition 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?
Lenders sometimes retain part of the advance until work they have named is done. Aiming that step at the roof does not describe slates, felt, timbers or leaks. It names a lending condition. A condition survey, if you have one, is where comments on the covering belong. The valuation visit that may have prompted the retention is still not a structural survey. Reading the retention as if it were the survey borrows a lending tool and pretends it inspected the roof. It did not.
Ask the broker what the offer actually retains and what the lender says must happen about the roof. Ask the solicitor to keep that wording out of the survey. If you need the covering described, use the home survey you instructed, and do not ask it to confirm the retention. No repair has been specified by the holdback alone. Do not invent the lender's rule for when the money is released. That sits in the offer.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What sum and what roof condition does the offer itself state?
- Which roof defects does the home survey describe, separately?
- Has anyone merged the retention wording into the survey?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read any retention only in the mortgage offer.
- Use the home survey for the roof's condition.
- Do not treat the retention as that survey.
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 a retention describe the covering as a home survey would?
No. A retention is a lending holdback aimed at the roof. It does not record slates, timbers or leaks in the way a condition survey does. MoneyHelper is clear that a mortgage valuation is not a structural survey. The covering still needs the survey if you want it described.
Has the retention ordered a repair?
No. It is not a specification and not a claim. Whatever the offer requires is the lender's condition, to be read with the broker and the solicitor. The survey has not become that offer, and the holdback has not, by itself, appointed anyone to repair the roof.