Property Survey Glossary

Plain-English definitions of the survey, dilapidations, compliance and building-defect terms property professionals use every day. Where a term has a free tool or guide, it links straight to it.

Surveys & reports

RICS Home Survey Standard: The RICS framework for residential surveys, offering three levels: Level 1 (Condition Report), Level 2 (HomeBuyer Report) and Level 3 (Building Survey), increasing in depth and detail.→ tool/guide
Condition rating (1, 2, 3): The RICS traffic-light rating applied to building elements: 1 = no repair currently needed; 2 = defects that should be repaired/replaced but are not serious or urgent; 3 = defects that are serious and/or need repair, replacement or investigation urgently.→ tool/guide
Snagging: The inspection of a new-build property to record defects ("snags") in workmanship or finish for the developer to rectify, typically before or shortly after completion.→ tool/guide
Schedule of condition: A factual record of the condition of a property at a point in time, usually with photographs, often attached to a lease to limit a tenant’s future repairing liability.
Inventory (check-in / check-out): A detailed record of the contents and condition of a rented property at the start and end of a tenancy, used to assess fair wear and tear and deposit deductions.

Dilapidations & leases

Dilapidations: Breaches of a tenant’s lease covenants relating to the condition of a property — typically repair, reinstatement and decoration — usually assessed at or near lease end.→ tool/guide
Schedule of dilapidations: An itemised list of a tenant’s alleged breaches of covenant with the remedial works and costs the landlord claims, served as interim (during the term) or terminal (at/after lease end).→ tool/guide
Scott Schedule: A table that sets each party’s case side by side, item by item: in dilapidations, the landlord’s item and cost against the tenant’s response and cost, with a column for the agreed position or the decision. Courts and tribunals also use them for housing disrepair and building defect claims.→ tool/guide
Section 18 cap: Under Section 18(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, damages for disrepair cannot exceed the diminution in the value of the landlord’s reversion — the "Section 18 cap" — which can limit a terminal dilapidations claim.
Reinstatement: The tenant’s obligation to return a property to its original layout/condition at lease end by removing alterations and partitions, where required by the lease or a licence for alterations.

Compliance & regulation

Decent Homes Standard: The existing social-housing standard covers serious hazards, repair, facilities and thermal comfort. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 provides for it to extend to England’s private rented sector; the government’s January 2026 policy statement says the new standard will apply from 2035.→ tool/guide
Renters’ Rights Act 2025: English housing legislation whose Part 1 tenancy reforms began on 1 May 2026. It also enables a Decent Homes Standard and Awaab’s Law requirements for England’s private rented sector; the government says the new Decent Homes Standard will apply from 2035, while Awaab’s Law timing and detailed requirements should be checked in current regulations.→ tool/guide
Awaab’s Law: Rules requiring English social landlords to investigate and remedy prescribed hazards within set timeframes. Extending them to private landlords in England is out to consultation until 18 December 2026 and is not yet law. Scotland has its own version for damp and mould, covering private landlords, from 6 October 2026.→ tool/guide
Awaab’s Law (Scotland): From 6 October 2026, social and private landlords in Scotland must have damp or mould investigated by a competent person within 10 working days, give the tenant a written summary within 3 working days and start any repair needed within 5 working days (SSI 2026/173).→ tool/guide
Repairing Standard (Scotland): The minimum repair standard for privately rented homes in Scotland under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006. From 6 October 2026 it includes a requirement that the house is substantially free from damp and mould.→ tool/guide
Private Rented Sector Database: The national register of private landlords and rented homes in England created by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. Landlords of assured and regulated tenancies make a landlord entry and an entry for each let home; draft regulations open it region by region from 15 December 2026, subject to Parliament’s approval.→ tool/guide
EICR: Electrical Installation Condition Report: the report a qualified person gives after inspecting and testing a home’s fixed electrical installation. Landlords in England need one at least every five years; draft regulations due on 30 November 2026, subject to approval, move the standard to BS 7671:2018+A4:2026.→ tool/guide
HHSRS: The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (Housing Act 2004), a risk assessment of 21 potential hazards in dwellings under the 2026 guidance. The most serious score band is "Category 1", for which a local authority has a duty to take the appropriate enforcement action.→ tool/guide
PAS 2035: The UK standard for the retrofit of domestic buildings for energy efficiency, defining the roles (including the Retrofit Coordinator and Assessor), risk paths and process for whole-house retrofit.→ tool/guide
Approved Document K: The Building Regulations guidance (England) for protection from falling, collision and impact — including stair geometry: rise, going, the 2R+G step rule and pitch.→ tool/guide
Approved Document F: The Building Regulations guidance (England) for ventilation, setting whole-dwelling ventilation rates and minimum intermittent extract rates for kitchens, bathrooms, utility rooms and WCs.→ tool/guide

Defects & building pathology

BRE Digest 251: The Building Research Establishment guidance that classifies cracking in low-rise masonry into six categories of damage (0–5) by ease of repair, with crack width given only as a guide.→ tool/guide
Subsidence: The downward movement of the ground supporting a building (e.g. from clay shrinkage, leaking drains or trees), which can cause tapering, diagonal cracking — distinct from heave (upward movement) and settlement (early post-construction movement).→ tool/guide
Japanese knotweed: An invasive plant assessed for residential property under the RICS 2022 four-category management framework (A–D), based on proximity to structures, whether it is live or treated, and any damage.→ tool/guide
Interstitial condensation: Condensation that forms within the layers of a building element (rather than on its surface) when warm, moist air reaches its dew point inside the construction — assessed by the Glaser method (BS EN ISO 13788).
Damp-proof course (DPC): A barrier built into a wall (or injected) to stop rising damp from passing up from the ground into the structure.

Measurement & energy

GIA / GEA / NIA: RICS floor-area bases: Gross Internal Area (within the internal face of external walls), Gross External Area (to the outer face), and Net Internal Area (usable area, deducting stairs, WCs, plant and common parts).→ tool/guide
IPMS: The International Property Measurement Standards, a globally consistent set of measurement bases adopted by RICS to make floor areas comparable across countries.→ tool/guide
U-value: The rate of heat transfer through a building element (W/m²K); a lower U-value means better insulation. Calculated to BS EN ISO 6946.
EPC / MEES: The Energy Performance Certificate rates a building’s energy efficiency A–G; the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard requires a rented property to reach at least E, with a proposed move to C for rentals by 2030.→ tool/guide
EPC reform (Scotland): New-style Scottish EPCs under the Energy Performance of Buildings (Scotland) Regulations 2025 show a heat retention rating, a heating system rating and an energy cost rating for homes, and are valid for 5 years. As the law stands they start on 31 October 2026; a draft awaiting approval by the Scottish Parliament would move this to 30 April 2028.→ tool/guide
BER: Ireland’s Building Energy Rating. From 24 May 2026 new certificates use A0 and A to G with no sub-bands; certificates issued earlier stay valid for 10 years from issue.→ tool/guide
Roof pitch: The angle of a roof slope to the horizontal, expressed in degrees, as a US "X-in-12" ratio, or as a 1:n ratio; pitch = arctan(rise ÷ run).→ tool/guide

Looking for a tool? See the free surveying calculators — crack, stair, roof, floor area, ventilation, knotweed and the Decent Homes readiness checker.