Renegotiating or walking away
Should you ask the surveyor to change a rating because the seller shouted?
No. A condition rating is the surveyor’s opinion against the RICS definitions, and the seller’s anger is not one of those definitions. Do not ask for a rating 3 to be rewritten as a rating 2 to calm the sale. Your solicitor carries any price conversation, and the what to do now note is advice to you, not a request that the surveyor give way.
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?
Shouting is common when a roof is called serious. It does not make the roof less serious. Rating 3 means serious or urgent, or both, and the RICS note tells the buyer to get written quotations before legal commitment. Rating 2 is repair or replacement that is not serious or urgent. If the surveyor has new evidence, they can consider it. Volume is not new evidence. A seller’s builder saying it’s nothing is not new evidence either, unless it is a proper description of the same defect that the surveyor can weigh.
Ask the surveyor to explain the rating if you do not understand it. Ask them to correct a factual error if there is one. Do not ask them to move the number so the agent will stop phoning. There is no RICS duty to soften a report because a transaction is tense. If you still want the house, decide with quotes and with your solicitor. If you do not, you can walk away before you are legally committed, without pretending the rating was never written.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What definition did you apply, regardless of the seller’s reaction?
- Is there new evidence, as opposed to pressure?
- Will you leave any price talk to the solicitors?
What are the typical next steps?
- Do not request a softer rating to quieten the seller.
- Get written quotations if the element is rating 3 and you need them before you commit.
- Let your solicitor frame any proposal.
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 seller is right that a repair was done?
Show the surveyor the invoices. They may comment. They do not have to change the rating because a voice was raised.
Can the agent insist on a revision?
They can ask. The rating is not theirs. An insistent call is still not a definition.