The start of 2024 has brought with it a sense of stability in the housing market, with house prices on the rise and an increase in people enquiring about conveyancing solicitors and removal companies. With this stability, we are seeing a huge increase in people looking for house surveys.

Compare My Move has seen an 88.7% increase in people looking for all survey types between December of 2023 and January of 2024. 

Although all survey types saw a significant increase, the Level 3 Building Survey saw the largest increase, almost doubling in enquiries at the start of 2024.

Many factors go into what survey you’ll need for your specific property, and it can be difficult to know what factors will influence the survey you need. Compare My Move’s Ultimate Survey Flowchart is designed to help you figure out what survey you need or whether you’ll need a survey at all. 

Different types of surveys

There are 4 different types of surveys that you may need when buying a property, a snagging survey, a level 1 condition report, a level 2 homebuyer report, and a level 3 building survey. Each report will cover different issues that will be surveyed in different ways and at different depths. 

Snagging Survey

If you’re buying a new build house, a professional snagging survey will provide you with a list of any “snags” to be passed on to the property developer before you move in.

These snags can range from small defects to major faults. Typical smaller issues include cracked tiles or loose door hinges, while larger issues could be structural problems like external brickwork.

Although you can create a new build snagging list yourself, hiring a surveyor is recommended as they’ll have more knowledge of what to look for. The surveyor will provide a thorough report with all issues listed.

Level 1 Condition Report

Previously known as Condition Report, the Level 1 Survey is the most basic and therefore cheapest RICS survey. All nearly new flats and homes will be best suited to the Level 1 Survey.

It’ll provide an overview of the property’s condition, but not in great detail. No surveyor’s opinion, advice or valuation is given, only obvious defects and the condition of the services like gas and water supply will be flagged.

Level 2 Homebuyer Report

Also referred to as a Home Buyers Survey or Home Buyer Report, the Level 2 Survey is suited for conventional properties built less than 50 years ago. It highlights any major issues with the property such as subsidence or damp and will look at defects both internally and externally.

The Level 2 Survey only looks at issues that are surface level and won’t check under floorboards or behind walls. Your surveyor will mark any major issues as a ‘3’ in the report and minor ones as ‘1’.

The report will also include an insurance reinstatement figure and a market value.

Level 3 Building Survey

Previously known as a Building Survey, a Level 3 Survey is best suited to older homes or non-standard construction houses. This could include thatched cottages, steel frame houses or PRC properties. It’ll look at the condition of the roof, the integrity and structure of the walls and the state of the floors.

Your report will detail each aspect inspected and will include any recommendations your surveyor has on repair work. If requested the report may also contain cost considerations for the elements included.

Is It Worth Getting a House Survey?

A property survey can save you £5,750 on average in repair work, research by RICS discovered. As a survey will highlight any repair work, this allows you to negotiate your original offer and the final cost of the property. This can ultimately save you thousands of pounds in repairs.

How Long Does a House Survey Take?

A Level 1 Survey will take between 2 and 4 hours as it is the most basic survey type. The Level 2 will also take 2-4 hours, but if the surveyor needs to gain access to certain areas, this can take longer. The Level 3 survey will take the longest with an average timescale of 4-8 hours, depending on condition and size.

What Survey Would I Need in Scotland?

In Scotland, it’s the seller’s responsibility to order the Home Report. It must be carried out before a sale is complete to ensure that buyers are aware of the property’s condition. The Home Report is made up of a single survey, an energy performance certificate and a property questionnaire. The single survey provided will produce reports like that of a Level 2, with similar issues and defects being recorded.

A NATIONWIDE survey has revealed that when buying and selling a home ‘love at first sight’ is not to be underestimated, with first impressions heavily impacting the emotions of a potential buyer.

Conducted by market researcher Opinium and home staging firm Lemon & Lime Interiors, the survey of 2000 people up and down the country asked that (if a home is within your price range) how important is experiencing ‘love at first sight’ when deciding which home to buy?

The results split opinions across the different regions. People from the West Midlands were most likely to believe in love at first sight, with 57% deeming it to be very important or somewhat important, followed by Wales with 53%. Northern Ireland was the lowest at 37%, followed by Scotland with 40%.

35-54-year-olds are the age group most likely to find it an important factor when buying, with 47% reporting to be somewhat or very important, greater than the 55+ category at 45% and 18-34-year-olds at 43%. Up to 70% of those surveyed said ‘love at first sight’ was fairly important and only 5% said it was not important at all.

Currently, only 1% of homes are staged for sale in the UK, but potential selling power could increase significantly by around 45x if agents and homeowners were to consider appearance first and foremost when selling. This is evidenced by the overall national average of around 45% of decision-making being mostly or partially based on ‘love at first sight’.

In fact, around 71.2% of the homeowners in England are coupled up, and people who are buying or selling a home in the next 12 months are 42% more likely to celebrate Valentine’s Day than the population as a whole – that’s a third of all movers or an estimated 831,000 people.

Elaine Penhaul, founder and director at Lemon and Lime Interiors, said: “For many house buyers, love at first sight can be a determining factor to taking the plunge.

“Most people are likely to have a home tug at their heartstrings whether a home has period features bursting with character or offers the space to cater for a family. We were fascinated by the variety of the data across the UK population this Valentine’s Day.

“Effectively, home staging is the process of highlighting your property’s most valuable assets ensuring a strong first impression and striking a chord with a buyer – this is usually through evoking an emotional connection or helping them to envisage a lifestyle in a potential home.

“With people expecting to buy a home only around three times in their life, it is imperative that agents and owners consider appeal as a principal factor in the buying process. There is so much untapped potential to help sell a home both faster and for more money and staging is a worthwhile option to enhance your kerb appeal.”

For more information about how to help people fall in love with the home you want to sell, visit the Lemon and Lime Interiors website.

Real estate managers with responsibility for PropTech have until Friday April 8 to take part in a landmark survey.

PropTech specialists at CBRE, JLL and BNP Paribas are among well over 100 who have already contributed to the Innovators in Real Estate survey, which aims to establish for the first time how effectively the industry is deploying new technology.

Organised by recruitment specialist Cherry Pick People in partnership with PropTech procurement platform Unissu, the online survey is aimed at heads of digital transformation and innovation, and those in similar roles, as well as their line managers.

It is available to complete at https://unissu.typeform.com/cherrypick

Participants are asked to give their insight into the sector’s relationship with technology and to identify the challenges facing managers leading innovation within their companies. The survey also looks at different organisational, team and individual roles and responsibilities for PropTech within real estate firms.

This is believed to be the first attempt to understand these dynamics, and to provide benchmarking data and perceptions to help innovators understand their current position in the industry and their future prospects.

“We firmly believe that people leading innovation strategies are going to play an increasingly important role in the real estate industry. By providing insight, our study will help them to manage their careers and encourage more people to take this journey,” said Alex Wiffen, Managing Director at Cherry Pick People.

The survey findings will be presented at conferences across Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific in the coming months with a detailed report published to coincide with the beginning of the conference season.

All participants will receive a free copy of the real estate survey report.

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