Last Updated on 5th March 2025
Negligent RICS survey: Professional negligence solicitor, Emma Slade, looks at the new RICS Condition Report and how this may impact on negligence claims against surveyors.
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To date, there have only been three types of property survey that a home buyer can obtain:
- a full structural survey (FSS);
- a HomeBuyers survey; or
- a plain valuation.
The HomeBuyers survey was introduced by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to bridge the gap between a FSS and a plain valuation – the FSS being an expensive and time consuming option, while the valuation gives no indication of the state of the property.
However, the HomeBuyers Report has attracted criticism for being relatively limited. They simply give an assessment of the condition of the main parts of the property and include the occasional recommendation.
This has set the RICS development team thinking and their response has been to introduce another form of property survey report: The RICS Condition Report, also known as a Level 1 Home Survey.
Like the HomeBuyers Report, the RICS Home Survey provides an assessment of the condition of the property, but it will also comment on:
- The construction and condition of the property at the date of inspection;
- Any defects in need of urgent attention;
- Any serious defects;
- Things that need further investigation to prevent serious damage to the property;
- Recommendations about likely contamination or environmental dangers;
- Potential issues that a legal advisor should consider; and
- Defects that could be considered a safety risk.
It will be interesting to see how the new report is received and what effect it will have on the number of claims for a negligent RICS survey.
