An email arrives while a Level 2 report is being drafted: “Electrical certificate attached.” The attachment might be an Electrical Installation Condition Report, a record of particular installation work, an invoice or only the first page of a longer document. Treating those as interchangeable can change the report’s meaning before anyone has reviewed the evidence.

For surveyors using outsourced Level 2 report writing, the useful instruction is more precise than “paperwork received”. Identify the document, establish what it covers and tell the writer which wording, if any, your review requires changing.

Keep the survey inspection and electrical assessment separate

The RICS Level 2 inspection scope, checked on 8 November 2026, describes a visual inspection of visible service systems within the normal inspection and excludes testing service installations or appliances. Receiving an electrical record does not mean the surveyor performed the inspection or tests described in that record.

Electrical Safety First’s Best Practice Guide 10 explains that limitations on inspection and testing must be recorded on an EICR, with their justification. Read the extent and limitations alongside the result. A short headline cannot convey the whole document’s scope.

Make a short record of the attachment

Keep the reviewed document with the instruction and give the writer enough information to refer to it accurately. A useful handover records:

  • Document identity: its actual title, reference and date, rather than the filename or the description in the sender’s email.
  • Property and installation: the address and the part of the installation identified in the document. Flag any mismatch with the property being surveyed.
  • Completeness: whether the relevant pages, observations and schedules are present and legible. Identify any missing material.
  • Extent and restrictions: what the record says was inspected, tested or excluded, keeping its wording distinct from your own inspection limitations.
  • Review instruction: your assessment of its relevance, the wording to amend and any clarification or further advice still needed.

This is a suggested drafting record, not a prescribed RICS form. It helps distinguish a document that has arrived from one that the responsible surveyor has reviewed and assessed.

An invoice should not become an EICR

Consider a fictional case where the seller sends an invoice describing replacement of a consumer unit. The file contains a charge and a brief description of the work, but no EICR. The existing draft says that no electrical condition report has been supplied.

The writer should return the attachment for the surveyor’s review, rather than replace that statement with “the electrical installation has been tested and is satisfactory”. The invoice does not supply those findings. If the surveyor wants the report to acknowledge the invoice and request associated records, the instruction should specify that change and any separate technical recommendation.

A missing record does not, by itself, establish a physical defect either. Preserve the surveyor’s visible observations, inspection restrictions and intended advice without filling the documentary gap with a diagnosis.

Resolve incomplete records before closing the query

If only a cover page is supplied, identify what is missing. If the document relates to a different address, a separate installation or an earlier configuration, flag the discrepancy. Ask the inspecting surveyor what needs clarification and which advice should remain pending that answer.

Use the drafting query log to record the document reference, question and resulting instruction. When advice changes, identify the current draft using the version-control workflow. A new attachment should not silently remove an outstanding recommendation.

Check the rating, narrative and summary together

The inspecting surveyor decides how reviewed records affect the report’s assessment and condition rating. The drafter should not automatically change a rating because a document has arrived. Equally, an electrician’s classification within an EICR should not be copied into the Home Survey rating field as though the two were the same assessment.

Before approval, check that the electrical paragraph, document requests and relevant summary advice agree about what was supplied, what was reviewed and what remains unresolved. Our guide to specific document requests helps keep documentary enquiries separate from technical recommendations.

The Survey Edit prepares Level 2 drafts from your notes, photographs, supplied template and instructions. Include your assessment of relevant records in the handover. You review, amend and approve the complete draft and remain responsible for the professional advice and final issue. Enquire about drafting support for your next Level 2 report.

You inspect. We write.