Seller-side surveys
A buyer asks for the survey you commissioned in 2019 when you bought. What reliance does handing over that old PDF not create?
Not reliance for the new buyer: handing over the 2019 PDF you commissioned when you bought does not create it. That report was for the client named in the terms of that instruction. A later handover does not make today's buyer that client, and it does not make the old inspection a report they can rely on as if it had been prepared for them. The PDF can be a piece of history you choose to pass on. It is not a new instruction.
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?
The 2019 surveyor wrote for the client named then. The person asking now was not that client. Passing a file across does not rewrite the terms and does not create a duty to the new reader. This is not a claim about a confidentiality statute. It is the limit of who the report was for. Posting it further, in a chat or a chain, still does not turn a buyer's old instruction into a report for whoever reads it.
If the new buyer wants a report they can rely on, they commission their own. If you still hand the 2019 PDF over, say in writing that it was prepared for the client named in those terms and that you are not asking them to rely on it. Do not add a sentence that 'the surveyor will stand behind this for you'. You cannot create that reliance by forwarding a file.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Who was the client named when this 2019 report was instructed?
- Does handing the PDF to a new buyer add them as that client?
- What would a new buyer need to instruct if they want their own reliance?
What are the typical next steps?
- Do not present the 2019 PDF as a report the new buyer can rely on.
- Say it was for the client named in those terms, if you pass it on.
- Suggest the buyer commissions their own survey if they need reliance.
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 buyer says they are happy to rely on it, does that create reliance?
No. Their willingness does not rewrite the 2019 terms. Handing over the PDF still does not make them the client of that report.
Does a paper copy create more reliance than an email?
No. The medium is not the point. Either way the report remains for the client named in the original terms, not for the new buyer.