Renegotiating or walking away
You would rather hold a retention than cut the price, and the survey gives no figure. Who sets any retention sum?
The people who agree the contract set any retention sum, not the survey. You would rather hold money back than cut the price, and the report gives no figure. The survey describes condition. It does not calculate a retention, name an amount, or choose between holding money and reducing the price. A retention is a contract arrangement about money kept until work is done. Without a real sum and an agreement, the report cannot be made to supply one.
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?
Some buyers prefer a retention because a price cut is spent once the purchase completes, while money held back can be released against finished work. That preference is a negotiation choice. It still needs a figure, a description of the work, and someone holding the money on agreed terms. None of those is in the survey. Inventing a sum because you would rather retain than reduce the price is still inventing a sum. The report has not recommended a retention and it has not priced the defect.
Ask your solicitor whether a retention can even be written into this contract, and ask a contractor what the relevant work would cost before any sum is put in writing. Do not ask the survey to name it. Tell the other side, through the solicitor, that you want a retention rather than a price cut only once a real figure exists. The survey stays the condition record. It is not the retention agreement.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Who sets any retention sum if the survey gives no figure?
- Has the report chosen a retention over a price reduction?
- Is a retention a contract term rather than a survey result?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the solicitor whether a retention can be agreed on this contract.
- Get a contractor's figure before any sum is written down.
- Do not ask the survey to invent the retention amount.
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
If the seller refuses a retention, has the survey failed?
No. The survey was never the document that sets a retention. It gives no figure, and the parties set any sum they agree. A refusal is a negotiation outcome. It does not change the condition the report described, and it does not oblige you to switch to a price cut the survey has also not calculated.
Can you pick a round number and call it the survey's retention?
No. A number you choose is your number, not the survey's. The report gives no figure and does not set the retention. If a sum is agreed, it should rest on a contractor's view of the work and on what the parties actually write down. Quoting the survey as the source of that sum would misstate it.