Condition ratings
The file you received is watermarked as a draft. Which sentences are you entitled to treat as the finished opinion?
You are not entitled to treat any sentence in that watermarked file as the finished opinion. A draft can still be rewritten, cut or re-rated before anyone issues it. Rating 1 means no repair currently needed. Rating 2 means defects that need repair but are not serious or urgent. Rating 3 means serious and/or urgent repair, replacement or investigation. NI means not inspected, not a pass. Those are RICS meanings for a finished report. The watermark shows this copy has not been issued as that opinion.
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?
A working file can hold photographs, headings and half-formed comments that look decisive on a screen. They are still notes the surveyor can change. Reading one line as a final finding would freeze a view that has not been signed off. The watermark is there so a buyer, a solicitor or a lender can see the difference. Ask for the issued report when you need sentences that are meant to stand. Until that copy exists, treat the draft as preparation rather than the opinion.
If the watermarked file has already gone to a lender or a solicitor, say clearly that it is marked draft and is not the completed survey. Do not promote a draft comment into a final rating to fill a gap in the papers. When the issued report arrives, read it against the draft instead of assuming every sentence survived unchanged. The surveyor chooses what remains. Your job is to rely on the copy that is no longer stamped as a draft.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which copy is the issued report rather than the watermarked draft?
- Were any comments in the draft altered before the report was issued?
- Has a lender already been sent the file that is still marked draft?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask for the issued report that is no longer marked draft.
- Tell the solicitor the watermarked file is not the finished opinion.
- Compare the issued copy with the draft before you rely on either.
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 photographs in the draft be quoted as final findings?
A photograph shows what was in front of the camera. Inside a watermarked draft the caption beside it can still change, and no condition rating is finished until the report is issued. Keep the image as a record of the visit. Do not treat a sentence under that picture as the opinion you are entitled to rely on.
Who decides which draft sentences survive into the issued report?
The surveyor decides, when the report is actually issued. A buyer cannot promote a draft line into a finished view, and a solicitor cannot do that either. Rating words in the issued copy carry their RICS meanings. Until issue, the watermarked sentences remain working text that can be cut or rewritten.