RICS Home Surveys

RICS Home surveys are compiled by qualified surveyors after a physical inspection of a property, assessing its condition, identifying risks and potential legal issues.

For consumers - visit here to make confident property decisions.
For RICS members – explore practical resources and guidance below, tailored to different levels of inspection and detail.

Residential properties in a leafy suburb

Home survey standard

Promoting and enforcing the highest standards in the residential sector

A small outdoor uplighter/downlighter on a brick wall

Property Inspection Technical Guidance for completing Single Surveys

Assisting chartered surveyors to produce Single Survey Reports.

Tiled rooftops on residential housing photographed from ground level

Looking to buy or renew your Home Surveys Licence?

You need this licence to produce an RICS Home Survey Report Level 1, 2 or 3.

Frequently asked questions

The reports have been revamped to reflect consumer feedback on the format, how the information is presented and the names of the reports to improve clarity and detail. This follows extensive consultation with members, software providers and technical working groups, to ensure that the new reports meet current market demands. The new reports are called:

RICS Home Survey Level 1
RICS Home Survey Level 2 (survey only)
RICS Home Survey Level 2 (survey and valuation)
RICS Home Survey Level 3.

You can view more details on the reports here.

There is a transition period for the new RICS home survey reports. This runs from 1 March until 31 August 2021. Between these dates, both the old and new formats of the reports will be acceptable. However, from 1 September the new home survey reports must be used.

The new Home Survey Standard will:

establish a clear framework that sets minimum expectations to protect and maintain consistent, high-quality standards in residential property survey services that RICS members and regulated firms provide
provide mandatory requirements for RICS members and regulated firms in the UK who deliver residential property surveys
replaces and harmonise previous RICS publications relating to residential surveys.