A residential condition survey records the state of a home element by element — roof, walls, windows, kitchen, bathroom, heating — so the owner can plan what to repair or renew and when. Housing associations and councils run them across their whole stock on a rolling cycle; private landlords and build-to-rent owners use them before buying, between lettings, or to set a maintenance budget. This template walks a home in the order a surveyor moves through it, from the street to the loft hatch, and ends with a dated works plan. Fill it in here and download the PDF without an account, or speak while you walk, and the document writes itself.
What a stock condition survey is for
The point of the survey is the plan it feeds. Each element gets a condition and, for the parts that wear out on a cycle — roof coverings, windows, doors, kitchens, bathrooms, boilers — an install year and an estimate of the life left. Add those up across a few hundred homes and you have a ten- or thirty-year investment programme; leave them out and you have a description nobody can budget from.
That is also why this form is not scored. A percentage tells an asset manager nothing. "Kitchen fitted 2006, poor, two years left" tells them exactly what to do.
Outside first, then room by room
Start at the street. Look at the roof and chimney from both sides, follow the gutters and downpipes round the building, check the walls, the air bricks and the line of the damp-proof course, then the windows, doors, paths and boundaries. Inside, rooms are a list: add each one as you enter it and record the same few things every time — ceiling, walls, floor, door, window, heating emitter, and the sockets and switches you can see.
The kitchen and bathroom get their own sections because they are planned as whole components, with their own replacement cycles, rather than as rooms.
Damp, mould and hazards
Damp and mould have their own section with a gate: if you see none, it folds away; if you do, each location gets its kind, its extent, a likely cause and a photo. Every entry becomes a finding in the report.
Hazards are handled with care. The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) used in England and Wales names 29 hazards, and rating one properly needs a judgement of likelihood and harm that a condition survey does not attempt. So this form only lets you name a potential hazard, say where it is and what you saw, and pass it on for further assessment. It does not score or rate it.
Heating, gas safety and energy
Record the heating type, the boiler's location, age and observed condition, the controls, and whether a current gas safety record was seen where there is a gas supply. Note whether a carbon monoxide alarm is fitted where there is a fuel-burning appliance. These are what you can see on a walk round — a survey is not a gas safety check, and the form does not pretend to be one.
The energy section records insulation, glazing, renewables and the EPC rating if one was seen, which is what you need to plan improvements towards whatever energy standard applies to the home.
Common questions
Who carries out a residential condition survey?
Usually a building surveyor, a stock condition surveyor employed or contracted by a housing provider, or an experienced maintenance officer. A private landlord can use the same form for their own homes, as long as they are honest about what they could and could not see.
How often should a stock condition survey be done?
Many housing providers aim to survey every home on a rolling cycle of around five years, with extra visits when a home becomes empty. Your own asset management strategy, regulator expectations and insurer may set the interval.
Does this survey assess HHSRS hazards?
No. It lets you name a potential hazard and describe what you saw, so it can be passed to someone who will carry out a proper HHSRS assessment. It makes no rating of likelihood or harm.
Is it the same as a homebuyer's survey?
No. A survey for a buyer advises on purchase and value. A stock condition survey records element condition and remaining life so the owner can plan maintenance and investment. The walk is similar; the purpose and the output are different.
Can it record homes we could not fully get into?
Yes. Record how much access you had at the start, and mark any element you could not see as "Could not be seen" rather than guessing. An honest gap is more useful to the plan than a guess.