Get two written quotes for every serious item, then ask for the cost of the work off the price, or for the seller to do it before exchange. Keep it to problems you could not have seen at the viewing. Here is how to set the figure, what to write, and what to do if the seller says no.
The survey is back and it is not the clean report you hoped for. Before you ring the agent, work out which findings are worth reopening the price over, what each one costs, and how to ask so the seller can say yes. This guide is written for England and Wales.
A real problem you could not have seen at the viewing, or whose cause and cost you could not have judged from what you saw, is a fair reason to ask again. A tired kitchen you walked through twice is not. A cost with two written quotes behind it is something the seller can check; a feeling is not.
Which survey findings can you renegotiate on?
The RICS Home Survey Level 2, the one that used to be called the HomeBuyer Report, is RICS's survey for conventional properties in reasonable condition. It is a visual inspection. The surveyor does not take up fitted carpets or other floor coverings, move heavy furniture or open up the fabric of the building, and the report says so where something could not be checked. It also does not price the repairs it finds; that part is yours, with quotes.
The report gives each main part of the building a condition rating, and the rating is what you negotiate from, not the adjectives around it (RICS, description of the Home Survey Level 2):
- Condition rating 1. No repair is currently needed.
- Condition rating 2. Defects that need repairing or replacing but are not serious or urgent.
- Condition rating 3. Defects that are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently. RICS says written quotations for repairs should be obtained before you are legally committed to buy.
- NI. Not inspected. Not a defect; a gap in what could be seen.
- R. Documents to request from the seller before you sign contracts. A prompt for your solicitor, not a defect.
Where an element has several parts, the summary shows the worst of them, so read the section, not just the summary page.
Then sort every rating 3 and every rating 2 into one of three piles, using the table. Only the first pile reopens the price.
| What the survey says | Pile | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Rating 3 where the report names a defect a trade can price, and nothing at the viewing showed it: roof, electrics, damp, structure, drainage or timber | 1. Reopen | New information with a quotable cost. The next buyer's survey may well find the same thing |
| Japanese knotweed, asbestos, flat-roof life | 1. Reopen, with a specialist's figure | These are priced by specialists, and the lender may have a view before you do |
| Rating 2 on things you saw or the listing told you: an old boiler, tired windows, "needs modernisation" | 2. Already priced in | Your offer, the asking price and the comparables already priced it. Reopening it costs the trust the rest of your numbers depend on |
| "Further investigation recommended": specialist damp and timber, an electrical condition report, a drain survey, a structural engineer | 3. Investigate first | Commission the investigation first. Once it names the defect, the item moves to pile 1. A quote without a diagnosis is a guess, and the seller's agent will say so |
| NI, an element that could not be inspected | 3. Investigate first | Ask for access, or for the investigation, before exchange. It is not a reason to reduce the price yet |
If you are buying a flat, this table needs a caution. The freeholder or management company is usually responsible for the roof, the structure and the shared parts, and recovers the cost through the service charge, so there is no roofer's quote for you to commission. A Level 2 survey also does not inspect a flat's drains or lifts, and sees the roof space only if it belongs to your flat. Ask your solicitor for the service charge accounts, the reserve fund balance and any notice of planned major works instead. A large bill the seller did not mention is the new information that can reopen the price.
A short lease is not a survey finding. The surveyor does not comment on legal documents, and the lease length is on the listing and in your solicitor's report, so it is normally priced in before you offer. If the lease turns out shorter than the listing said, that is new information, and a lease extension is priced by a specialist valuer.
Two habits help. Ring the surveyor and ask them to talk the report through; ask when you book whether a call is included in the fee. A surveyor can tell you which items are ordinary for a house of that age, and may price repairs as an extra service if you agree it before the inspection. And read the ratings against the age of the house: an 1890s terrace with rating 2s on every page is a normal 1890s terrace, while a 2010 flat with a rating 3 roof is not.
Been to a viewing?
Put in the address and see what the data says you should offer — sold prices, time on market, seller signals.
How much to ask off: two quotes, then your ask, accept and walk-away
The survey gives you the problem; the quotes give you the number. Do this in order:
- Get two written quotes for each item in the first pile. Trades will quote from the survey wording and either a visit or photographs. Ask the agent whether the seller will allow access for a quote visit. Written, itemised and dated; a figure on the phone is not evidence. For knotweed, asbestos or flat-roof life, a specialist's figure stands in for the two trade quotes.
- Use the lower of the two. You are asking for what the work costs, not the most anyone has ever charged for it. If the two differ by more than about a quarter, get a third quote and use the middle one. The agent may well ring a contractor too.
- Decide your answer to "betterment" before anyone says the word. A new roof is better than the forty-year-old roof the price assumed, and the agent may say so. Safety and structural items (a rating 3 on the electrics, movement, drains) are the ones to ask the seller to meet in full. End-of-life items (the roof covering) are where the agent will argue betterment, so decide before you ask how much of the cost you will settle for. That share is your accept figure.
- Take off what the price already reflected. If the listing said "needs modernisation" and you offered below asking for that reason, the tired kitchen is not new information. Only the first pile goes in the message.
For scale, these are Checkatrade's ballpark figures, which it shows as "+VAT". The rewire, roof, heating and window rows are for a three-bedroom house (renovation cost guide, price table last updated October 2026). The two damp rows are for a typical property (damp proofing guide, price table last updated June 2026) and leave out stripping and re-plastering, decoration, drying out and the damp survey, so a full damp quote may come in higher. They are for reading a quote, not for replacing one, and you should ask for your quotes including VAT.
| Finding | Typical range, 2026 | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Full rewire | £4,000 to £8,500 | £6,250 |
| New roof | £6,500 to £18,000 | £12,250 |
| Damp: injected course | £1,000 to £3,000 | £2,000 |
| Damp: physical damp-proof course retrofitted | £2,500 to £7,500 | £5,000 |
| New heating system, boiler and radiators | £3,000 to £8,500 | £5,500 |
| Replacement windows | £2,500 to £8,000 | £5,250 |
A damp survey, where the report asks for one, averages about £300 (Checkatrade's damp proofing guide) and is the first thing to buy, because the treatment and the cost depend on the type of damp.
Now set three figures of the same kind as the ones you set before you offered, this time with the survey in them: your ask, your accept and your walk-away.
- Ask. The quoted cost of the first-pile items, at the lower quotes from step 2, in one message with the quotes attached. Agreed at £325,000 with rewire quotes of £6,100 and £6,800 and roof-repair quotes of £3,900 and £4,400, the ask is £10,000 off: £315,000. These figures are invented for illustration, not typical costs.
- Accept. Where you will settle, decided before you send the ask: the full cost of the safety items and a share you can justify of the end-of-life items. For illustration only, the rewire in full (£6,100) plus about half the roof repair (£3,900) is about £8,000 off, or the rewire done before exchange by an electrician registered with a competent person scheme, with the certificates handed to your solicitor, and about £2,000 off for the roof.
- Walk away. The price you would pay after the seller's best offer, plus the works at the higher of your two quotes for each item, lands above the walk-away figure you set before you offered. If you never set one, set it now from the comparables, not from how much you have already spent on the survey and the searches. Money spent is spent either way.
One message, all the items, once. A second ask a week later for something you forgot reads as a buyer looking for the exit, and the agent may treat it as one.
What to write to the agent, with the quotes attached
Write it, do not phone it. A written ask can be passed to the seller exactly as you wrote it, the seller sees your figures rather than the agent's summary, and your solicitor has the paper trail. Send it as soon as you have the quotes and any investigation back. If that will take more than a few days, tell the agent now that the survey has found problems and a revised figure is coming, so the wait does not read as cold feet. One message, every item, the quotes as attachments. Send your solicitor the survey the same day and ask them to raise enquiries with the seller's solicitor on each item, including any guarantees or certificates.
A message you can adapt. In the example above the slots are £6,100 and £6,800 for the rewire, £3,900 and £4,400 for the roof, £315,000 for the ask and £321,100 for the alternative. Subject line: [Address]: survey findings and revised offer.
Thank you for arranging access for the survey. The Level 2 report rates [two items] as condition 3: [the electrical installation, which the surveyor says should be tested by a registered electrician, and the roof covering, which has slipped and cracked tiles]. Neither was visible at the viewings. We have [the electrician's report, which recommends a full rewire], and two written quotes for each item, attached: [£ rewire quotes] and [£ roof quotes]. We would like to proceed at [£ agreed price less the lower quotes]. Alternatively, we would proceed at [£ agreed price less the lower roof quote] if the seller has the rewire completed before exchange by an electrician registered with a competent person scheme, with the certificates provided to our solicitor. [We remain keen on the house and ready to exchange promptly.]
How it is built: the ask is a number with a reason the seller can check. The alternative gives them a way to say yes without feeling beaten. The last line reminds them what they keep by agreeing, a buyer who can exchange, against what re-listing risks: the next buyer's survey may find the same roof.
The tab's wording says "two quotes". If you have several items, change it to "two quotes for each item".
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Options to put on the table, and what the agent will say back
The options you can put on the table, and what to watch with each:
| Option | When to offer it | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| A price reduction | The default. You control the work, choose the trade and keep the warranty | Tell your broker or lender before you send the ask. A lower price changes the loan-to-value, and the lender will want the revised price confirmed |
| The seller does the work before exchange | Safety items you want done properly, and a seller who prefers spending to discounting | Name the trade standard in writing, have the certificates or guarantee sent to your solicitor, and have your surveyor or a specialist look at it. Your solicitor can tell you how to protect yourself before you exchange |
| A retention held back at completion | When the work cannot be done before the completion date and the seller will not move on price. It is written into the contract, so both solicitors must agree the amount, who holds it, what releases it and a long-stop date | It complicates the conveyancing. Separately, a lender can hold back part of your mortgage advance after its own valuation; some lenders do not offer this, the lender sets the terms, and you have to find that cash on completion |
| Meeting in the middle | When the seller counters your ask | Decide your accept figure before you answer, and offer it once |
What not to write: that you are disappointed, that the seller must have known, or that the offer is final. The seller may not have known, and you cannot tell from outside. The message is a cost, two quotes and two ways to settle it.
What the agent will say back, and what it usually means:
| The agent says | What it usually means | Your move |
|---|---|---|
| "The price already reflects the condition" | True for the second pile, which is why it is not in your message | Ask what the comparable's survey found. Hold |
| "Every house this age needs a rewire" | True of a rating 2. A rating 3 with two quotes is a different thing | Restate the rating and the quote. Hold |
| "The seller has another buyer waiting" | Perhaps, and that buyer's survey may find the same roof | Stay polite, restate the figure, and say you can exchange |
| "The seller will do the work" | A yes, on conditions | Set the conditions from the table above, in writing |
| "Can you meet in the middle?" | Sometimes the seller is ready to move; sometimes the agent is testing how far you will go. Either way it is a counter to answer | Once, at your accept figure, not at half of your ask |
If the seller counters, says no or agrees
Three answers can come back: a counter, a flat no or a yes. Each has a first move.
A counter. If it already meets your accept figure, take it. If not, go to your accept figure, once, and say that it is where you can make it work: "We've shown the quotes. £8,000 off is where we can proceed, or the rewire done before exchange and about £2,000 off for the roof." Then stop. Two days of silence is not a no, and a second message in that time is you bidding against yourself. The guide on counter-offers covers the full ladder.
A flat no. Find out what is being refused before you decide anything:
- Ask the agent whether the seller disputes the finding or the cost. A disputed cost is settled by a third quote. A disputed finding is settled by the surveyor's note or a specialist's report, which is why the "further investigation" items were commissioned first.
- Ask about the chain. A seller with an onward purchase may have more to lose from a fall-through than from £8,000, and an agent knows what re-listing costs: weeks, a new round of viewings, and the chance that the next buyer's survey finds the same roof. TwentyCi's figures, reported by The Intermediary, put UK sales falling through at 23.4% in the first half of 2026, and Quick Move Now, a property-buying company, put survey issues behind more than a quarter of the failures in the second quarter.
- Decide against your walk-away figure, not against the money you have already spent. If the price the seller will accept plus the works at the higher of your quotes is inside the figure you set before you offered, your own rule says proceed, and treat the works as part of the price of the house you chose. If it is outside, your own rule says walk.
Walking away. Until contracts are exchanged you can still step back (the rules at the end give the source); what you lose is what you have spent, which at this stage is the survey, the searches, your solicitor's time so far and any mortgage fees that are not refundable. Write it so the door stays open: "Given the survey we are not able to proceed at the agreed price. If the seller's position changes we would still like to buy." A seller may come back when re-listing stops being a threat and becomes a Saturday of viewings, but you cannot count on it. Say it only if you mean it. The guide on backing out of an offer covers the costs and the timing.
A yes. Confirm it in writing the same day, ask the agent to update the memorandum of sale with the new price, and tell your solicitor and your broker. Ask your solicitor to check that the draft contract carries the new price before you exchange; the memorandum is not the contract. The lender will want the revised price confirmed and may reissue the mortgage offer. Offer accepted: what happens next covers the weeks up to exchange.
If the lender's valuation comes in below your price too
The survey tells you what is wrong with the house. The lender's valuation tells you what the lender will lend against, and it can come in below your agreed price for reasons that have nothing to do with the roof. If it does, the mortgage is worked out on the lower figure and you have to find the rest from your own money.
The HomeOwners Alliance lists six options, starting with renegotiating the price and ending with pulling out (down valuations guide):
- Renegotiate the price to the valuation.
- Challenge the valuation with three recent comparable sales that sold at the same price as yours, starting from Land Registry sold prices.
- Take a mortgage with a higher loan-to-value, which usually carries a higher rate.
- Try a different lender, though you might end up with the same surveyor.
- Make up the shortfall.
- If none of that works, pull out.
Which of these suits your mortgage is a question for your broker or lender. The message to the seller is the one from How to Negotiate House Price: 7 Scripts That Work:
The lender has valued the house at [£ valuation], which is [£ difference] below our offer. [We can't make up the difference,] so we'd like to proceed at the valuation.
The seller does not have to agree, but a mortgage-dependent next buyer's lender may well reach a similar figure, which gives them a reason to listen. If the valuation came in low and the survey found rating 3s, send them as one case: the quotes are evidence for the valuation challenge as well as for the price. If the valuation arrives after you have sent the survey ask, send it as one new message about the valuation; that is new information, not a forgotten item.
How Broc helps with your walk-away
The figure this guide leans on is the walk-away, and the time to set it is before you offer. Broc works out your numbers for a specific address from the sold prices of similar homes nearby and, where it can match the listing, how long the house has been on the market and any price cuts, along with signals about the seller's position. With your answers about the house and your own position, the report sets your opening offer, target and walk-away, and writes the offer letter.
Broc doesn't read your survey or price the repairs: the quotes, the ask and the sending are yours, and the After the survey tab above gives you wording to adapt. Its walk-away is a ceiling set before the survey, so add your quoted works to the price when you test it. Broc's figures are automated estimates to inform your own decision, not a RICS valuation or survey, and no outcome is guaranteed. You send the letter. Broc doesn't read your email or contact the agent.
Where the rules stand (position as of October 2026)
These rules apply in England and Wales. The last point is how Scotland differs.
- An offer is not legally binding in England and Wales until contracts are exchanged, and an offer made subject to contract can still be negotiated, for example if a survey finds a problem (GOV.UK: making an offer).
- The government's home buying and selling reform roadmap, updated 19 June 2026, plans sales packs and, after them, binding conditional contracts. None of it is in force, so the exchange rule above still applies. If you are asked to sign a reservation agreement, read what it says you lose if you withdraw (GOV.UK: home buying and selling reform roadmap).
- The condition ratings are RICS's own. A Level 2 survey is a visual inspection and does not report the cost of putting defects right (RICS, description of the Home Survey Level 2).
- In Scotland, offers are sent by a solicitor. If the seller agrees to sell, their solicitor replies with a "qualified acceptance" setting out their conditions, and the contract is binding once the missives are agreed, so the renegotiation steps in this guide do not carry over (mygov.scot: making an offer).
General information, not legal or financial advice.
Frequently asked questions
Can I renegotiate the price after a survey?
Yes. Until contracts are exchanged the price can still be negotiated, and a problem found by a survey is the example GOV.UK gives. Quote the cost of the work, in writing, and ask for it off the price or for the seller to do the work before exchange. The rules, with their sources, are under 'Where the rules stand' above.
How much can you knock off a house price after a survey?
The cost of the work for the problems you could not have seen at the viewing, priced at the lower of two written quotes, or the middle of three if the first two are far apart. Items the listing or your own eyes already showed are not new information, and asking for them costs you credibility on the items that are. The seller does not have to agree.
Can I pull out after a survey?
Yes, until contracts are exchanged. What you lose is what you have spent so far: the survey, the searches, your solicitor's time and any mortgage fees that are not refundable. Try the ask first when the finding is something a quote can price. The rules, with their sources, are under 'Where the rules stand' above.
What if the seller refuses to reduce the price?
Find out whether they dispute the finding or the cost, because each has a different fix: a third quote settles a disputed cost, and a surveyor's note or specialist report settles a disputed finding. Then measure the agreed price plus the works at your higher quotes against the walk-away figure you set before you offered. If it is inside, your own rule says proceed. If it is outside, your own rule says walk, and you can say the door is open. If they counter rather than refuse, go once to your accept figure.
Can the seller pull out if I try to renegotiate?
Yes. Until contracts are exchanged an agreed price binds neither side in England and Wales, so either side can step back. A polite ask with the quotes attached gives the seller something to check, but it does not stop them refusing or walking away. A second ask a week later, or an ask over things you saw at the viewing, is more likely to be read as a buyer looking for the exit. The rules, with their sources, are under 'Where the rules stand' above.
What is the difference between the survey and the mortgage valuation?
The survey is yours and describes the condition of the house. The valuation is the lender's and sets what it will lend against. A low valuation is a separate lever with its own moves: renegotiate to the valuation, challenge it with comparables, change the product or lender, make up the shortfall, or withdraw. Which of those suits your mortgage is a question for your broker or lender.
Can I ask the seller to do the repairs instead of cutting the price?
Yes, and some sellers prefer it. In England and Wales, set the conditions in writing: a named trade standard, the certificates or guarantee to your solicitor, and sign-off by your surveyor or a specialist before exchange.
Do I need to tell my lender about the new price?
Yes. Tell your broker or lender and your solicitor the same day the price is agreed. The lender will want the revised price confirmed and may reissue the mortgage offer; what the lower price does to your loan-to-value depends on how much you borrow.
Broc
Broc is the badger behind trybroc.io — "broc" is Old English for badger. Where the estate agent speaks in superlatives, Broc speaks in evidence — sold comparables, days on the market, seller-pressure signals — and turns them into a number you can defend.
