Housing Provider Guide

What Is a Stock Condition Survey?

Q: What is a stock condition survey?

A property-by-property inspection that records the condition and remaining life of each key building element, so a landlord knows what work each home needs and when. Housing associations and councils use the results to plan repairs and long-term investment.

Q: Do housing associations have to carry out stock condition surveys?

The Regulator of Social Housing's Safety and Quality Standard, in force since 1 April 2024, requires registered providers to have an accurate record of the condition of each home, based on a physical assessment of all homes, and to keep it up to date. A stock condition survey programme is how most providers meet that.

Q: How often should stock condition surveys be done?

The standard says records must be kept up to date rather than setting a fixed cycle. Many providers survey a proportion of their stock each year so every home is visited within a five-year period, and survey sooner after major works or complaints.

Q: How long does a stock condition survey take?

For a typical house or flat, around an hour on site. It takes longer if an EPC is captured in the same visit or the home is large or in poor condition.

Q: Can a stock condition survey and an EPC be done together?

Yes. Capturing both in one resident appointment halves the number of visits and gives you a condition record and an energy rating from the same day, which is useful for planning towards EPC C by 2030.

A practical guide for asset managers at housing associations, councils and consultancies: what the survey covers, what the regulator expects and how to get data you can actually plan from.

Last updated 30/09/2026 · Strata Surveying & Retrofit

The short answer

A stock condition survey is an inspection of a home that records the condition and expected remaining life of each of its main parts. Across a whole portfolio, those records tell a landlord what work is needed, where and when, so repairs and investment can be planned instead of reacted to. Housing associations, councils and large private landlords use them to build their asset management database and their long-term investment plan.

What a survey covers

Each key element is inspected, given a condition rating and an estimated remaining life, and photographed. A typical scope includes:

Outside: roof coverings, chimneys, gutters, walls, windows, doors, paths and boundaries.
Inside: kitchen, bathroom, internal doors, floors, walls and ceilings.
Services: heating system and boiler, hot water, electrical installation (visual), ventilation and smoke detection.
Communal areas in blocks: entrances, stairs, lighting, door entry and fire doors (recorded for the relevant specialist to assess).
Defects: damp, condensation, mould, movement and disrepair, with photographs.
Attributes: construction type, age, number of bedrooms, heating fuel and other data that feeds energy and investment modelling.

Why housing providers need one

Since 1 April 2024 the Regulator of Social Housing's Safety and Quality Standard has required registered providers to have an accurate, up-to-date and evidenced understanding of the condition of their homes. Specifically, providers must have "an accurate record at an individual property level of the condition of their homes, based on a physical assessment of all homes", and keep it up to date.

Current stock condition data also underpins:

Awaab's Law duties to investigate and fix damp, mould and other hazards within set timescales;
the Decent Homes Standard, which is being reformed;
EPC C by 1 April 2030 for social homes, where condition and energy data together decide which homes to improve first;
30-year investment plans that boards and lenders expect to be evidenced.

How often

The regulator asks for records that are kept up to date rather than a fixed cycle. In practice many providers survey a rolling proportion of their homes each year so every home is visited within about five years, with extra surveys after major works, voids or complaints.

What makes the data usable

The survey is only as good as its consistency. Before you commission a programme, check that the surveyor will give you:

One field standard for every surveyor, so property 1 and property 1,000 are rated the same way.
Photographs for every element, so your team can check a record without a revisit.
Data in your asset system's format, not a spreadsheet you have to re-key.
A plan for resident access, including letters, booking and no-access follow-up, because access is where most programmes slip.
Quality checks during the programme, not at the end.

We deliver stock condition surveys for housing associations, councils and consultancies across London and the South East, and can capture the EPC in the same visit. Our flagship programme covered 356 homes with a combined EPC and stock condition visit.

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