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How to Log Property Defects by Severity
Manesh Jayawardhana
CIO & Co-founder
A snagging list with 41 items, every one marked urgent, arrives at the developer. Three of them are structural and thirty-eight are paint finish.
Marking everything urgent does not get everything fixed faster. It gets the list treated as one item, and the three that mattered get the same attention as the paint.
Severity has to mean something
A rating scale only works if the categories are used differently.
Urgent — a safety issue or something causing ongoing damage. Water ingress, an electrical fault, a structural concern. These need action now.
Repair needed — a genuine defect that is not causing further damage. A door that does not close, a cracked tile, a failed seal.
Monitor — something that may be normal and may be developing. A hairline crack, a slight damp patch. The right action is a note and a re-check date.
Cosmetic — paint, minor marks, finish. Real defects, worth listing, and not urgent.
Most items in any inspection are the last two. A list where the distribution reflects that is a list somebody will work through; a list where everything is urgent is one that gets triaged by whoever receives it, using their judgement instead of yours.
| Severity | Share of a typical list |
|---|---|
| Urgent | A few |
| Repair needed | Perhaps a quarter |
| Monitor | Some |
| Cosmetic | Most |
Patterns matter more than individual items
The most useful output of a defect log is not the list — it is what the list has in common.
Three damp patches on separate walls are three defects. Three damp patches on the same external elevation are one defect with three symptoms, and the cause is outside the building.
Similarly:
Cracks radiating from window and door corners across several rooms suggest movement rather than individual plaster failures.
Doors sticking on one side of the property suggests the floor or frame rather than the doors.
Condensation in several rooms suggests ventilation rather than individual cold spots.
Logging room by room and then reading across the rooms is what surfaces those. A list sorted by severity alone hides them, which is an argument for recording location systematically even when the list is short.
Photograph everything, with something for scale
A defect described in words is a defect that has to be re-found and re-explained.
A photograph with a coin, a tape measure or a hand in frame establishes the size, and a second wider shot establishes where in the room it is. Two photographs per item, taken at the time, save an enormous amount later.
For anything you expect to argue about — a snagging dispute, an end-of-tenancy deduction, a pre-purchase concern — dated photographs are the entire basis on which it will be resolved.
Where the log stops
A defect log records what a non-specialist can see. That is genuinely useful and it is not a survey.
A professional survey covers structure, damp with meters rather than eyes, services, roof spaces, drainage, and things that require access or instruments. It also carries professional liability, which a personal list does not.
The two work together. A defect log documents condition at a point in time and directs a surveyor’s attention. It does not substitute for one, particularly on a purchase.
For a new build, the snagging period is defined and finite — worth confirming its length before it expires, since defects reported after it are considerably harder to pursue.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Marking everything urgent.
- Recording defects without location, which hides patterns.
- Describing without photographing.
- Missing the snagging period deadline on a new build.
- Treating the log as a survey.
How to do it with Property Inspection Defect Log
The Property Inspection Defect Log records by room with severity.
- Work room by room in a consistent order.
- Rate severity honestly — most items are not urgent.
- Photograph each item with something for scale.
- Read across rooms for patterns before submitting the list.
Other property tools are in the tools directory.
Frequently asked questions
What is a snagging list?
A defect list for a newly built property, produced before or shortly after completion. There is usually a defined period for reporting, and confirming its length before it expires is worth doing.
How should severity be rated?
Consistently, with most items in the lower categories. A list where everything is urgent gets triaged by the recipient instead of by you, and the genuinely urgent items lose their priority.
Does this replace a survey?
No. A survey covers structure, services and things not visible to an untrained inspection, and carries professional liability. A defect log documents what you can see and directs a surveyor’s attention.
Final thought
Look across the rooms before you send the list. Three symptoms of one cause is a different conversation from three separate defects.