Property survey is a loose phrase covering everything from a lender's valuation to a full building survey, which is why the answers people get vary so widely. A property surveyor in the sense that matters here is a chartered building surveyor: somebody who inspects a building and writes about its condition, and who can be held to what they wrote.
What a property surveyor does
Inspects, diagnoses and reports. On a purchase that means a home survey at one of the three levels. On a commercial building it means an acquisition or lease entry report. On a lease end it means a schedule of dilapidations. The discipline is the same; the reader changes.
What the report should contain
The instruction and its limits, the date and weather, what was inspected and what was not, the findings with photographs, and specific recommendations. A report that does not say what it could not see is hiding its own gaps.
What it does not include
A valuation unless you asked for one, tests of services, drainage inspections, or any opening up. Those are separate instructions and a good report names the ones it thinks are genuinely needed. Ask which of them the surveyor would commission if the house were theirs, because that answer is usually shorter than the list in the report.
How to check the surveyor
Chartered status, verifiable on the professional body's member register, and professional indemnity insurance. Both take a minute to confirm and both matter only when something has gone wrong, which is exactly when you cannot arrange them.
Questions people ask about what is a property survey
What is a property survey?
An inspection of a property and a written report on its condition, commissioned by the person who needs to make a decision about it.
What does a property surveyor do that a valuer does not?
A valuer answers what the property is worth. A surveyor answers what condition it is in. The two are different exercises even when one firm offers both.
Is a property survey report confidential?
It is addressed to the client and is normally for that client's use. Passing it to a third party without the surveyor's agreement usually removes any reliance the third party thinks they have.