Renegotiating or walking away
A forum suggests a fixed percentage off for any rating 3. Why is that not what the survey has calculated?
The survey has not calculated a price reduction at all. A forum suggestion of the same fixed cut for every rating 3 is someone else's formula. It is not a sum in this report. The survey describes condition. It does not price a negotiation, and it does not apply one deduction to every element that carries that grade. What you discuss on price comes from quotes and from what you will accept, with your solicitor. Do not treat a forum rule as the survey's arithmetic.
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?
Condition grades sort defects. They are not a tariff. Two chimneys, or a roof and a drain, can both carry rating 3 in ordinary speech and still cost different sums. The survey did not collect contractor prices and did not apply a forum fraction to the purchase figure. Anyone who tells you every rating 3 is worth the same cut is ignoring the actual element. The report gives you the finding. The number you might seek off the price is a later decision, and it was not calculated here.
If you want a figure, obtain quotes for the specific work the report describes and talk to your solicitor about whether to renegotiate or to walk away. The survey has not chosen that path and has not written a reduction. Do not send a forum formula to a lender as if it were the surveyor's sum. Keep price talks attached to real quotations. A grade without a quote is still a grade, not a priced demand.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Has the survey calculated a price cut for rating 3 items?
- Does one forum formula apply to every element with that grade?
- Are contractor quotes already inside the report?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat forum price rules as outside the survey.
- Get quotes for the actual work the report describes.
- Discuss any reduction with your solicitor from those quotes.
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
Can a contractor quote be presented as if the survey wrote it?
No. A quote is the contractor's price for work they define. The survey did not write it and did not adopt it. You may show it to your solicitor as a separate paper. It does not become a line in the survey, and it is not a forum fraction applied to the price. Keep the documents labelled. The survey remains a condition report.
Does rating 3 on one element set the price of a different defect?
No. Each element is its own finding. A grade on the chimney does not price the roof, the drains or anything else, and it does not price even the chimney. The survey has not calculated reductions. A matching cut for every rating 3 is a forum idea, not this report. Price, if you seek it, follows the specific defect and a real quote.