Roof structural survey- missed leak

teneighty

Standard practice requires an RICS surveyor to at least use a 3 metre long ladder where safe to do so.

Reasons for failing to gain access into the roof space would be things like deep insulation hiding the ceiling joists making it impossible to see safe footing points or too many items stored in loft making access impossible without climbing over boxes, Christmas decorations etc. But as I said previously this should be clearly stated in the report and the reason given why they could not gain access. Otherwise the surveyor would be expected to have made a full inspection of the interior of the loft space in any survey let alone a specific roof survey.

Externally the 3 metre ladder probably wouldn't be much help so the surveyor would probably be restricted to what he could see from ground level with the help of binoculars or camera with zoom facility.

For an RICS Full Building Survey on the roof only I would expect the roof structure and covering (tiles/slates etc) to be included, subject to my previous comments about what was visible on the day of the inspection due to weather/access etc.

Missbrookes

Thank you. This is helpful. The house was vacant at the time of purchase and insulation doesn't cover joists. It doesn't state anywhere in the report that there was a reason to not enter the loft space. Thank you for your further advice