Guide
The lender's valuation is not a survey. A survey is for you, to find the problems before they become your problems.
People mix up the lender's valuation with a survey. They're not the same thing. The valuation tells the lender the place is worth roughly what they're lending. A survey tells you what's wrong with it. Skip it and you're buying blind.
A Level 1 condition report is the cheapest and thinnest, fine for a newish flat in good nick. A Level 2 homebuyer report is the usual choice for a standard house in reasonable shape, and picks up damp, movement, roof and timber trouble. A Level 3 building survey, the old "full structural", is the thorough one, for older, larger, altered or clearly tired properties. It costs more and tells you far more.
Older homes, anything extended or altered, listed buildings, and anything priced suspiciously low all justify a Level 3. The few hundred pounds extra is nothing against the tens of thousands a hidden structural problem costs. If buyerside flagged an unpermitted extension or a period property, that's a Level 3 conversation.
A survey isn't just pass or fail. Its findings are leverage. A quote for £8,000 of roof work is a reason to ask for £8,000 off, or to have the seller fix it before you complete.