Renegotiating or walking away

What should you do if the agent tells the seller the survey was rating 2 when the element is rating 3?

Correct it in writing. The agent does not regrade the report, so if the element is rating 3 that is the finding the seller should hear. Send the wording through your solicitor, and do not let a misheard number become the offer. There is no standard deduction hiding behind either number.

Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.

What is the fuller explanation?

Agents summarise. A summary that drops from rating 3 to rating 2 changes the meaning: rating 3 is serious or urgent, or both, and the RICS note tells you to get written quotations before you are legally committed. Rating 2 is not that category. Once the seller has been told the kinder number, they will think you are exaggerating when you later describe the real one. Put the element, the rating and the plain reason in a short note. Attach the page if you are willing to. Do not attach a demand that pretends the rating itself is a bill.

Decide what you want only after you know the quote, if you need one, and after your solicitor has said you are still free to ask. The what to do now note is advice to you. It does not force the seller to pay, and it does not force you to walk away. Correcting the agent’s slip is not the same as a price cut. If you do want a change in price, say so separately, from the quotations, without relying on the wrong rating the agent used.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Please quote the rating and the element exactly as in the report.
What quotation, if any, are you still waiting for before a proposal?
Are you content for the solicitor, not the agent, to state your position?

What are the typical next steps?

Correct the mis-stated rating before you negotiate.
Do not let rating 2 be used as a nickname for rating 3.
Base any money request on quotations, not on the agent’s shorthand.

Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.

Also asked about this

What if the agent then calls the whole survey unsatisfactory?

Ask them which element they mean. Unsatisfactory is not a RICS rating. The numbers in the report are.

Should you publish the report to prove the agent wrong?

No. Correct the record with the people in the sale. A threat to publish is not part of the RICS note, and it is not a pricing method.