Renegotiating or walking away
You agreed a price change and the engineer's letter then says the crack needs no work. What should happen to a reduction that was based on a repair the letter does not support?
The reduction should be revisited, because it was based on a repair the engineer's letter does not support. You agreed a price change, and the letter then says the crack needs no work. The reason you allowed for that repair has fallen away. The survey is not withdrawn, and the letter does not rewrite every other finding. What should happen is that the reduction tied to this crack is put back with the solicitor, rather than left in place as if the letter still required the work.
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?
A price change is only as good as the reason you gave for it. If the reason was money off for repairing the crack, and a later engineer says no work is needed, keeping the full reduction treats a repair as live when the letter says it is not. That is a different point from whether you still rely on the rest of the survey. The engineer's letter is about the crack. It is evidence to take to the price conversation.
Tell the solicitor the reduction was based on a repair and the engineer's letter says the crack needs no work. Ask them to reopen that part of the price change. Do not leave the reduction standing as if the letter still supported it. Do not tear up unrelated survey items because this one crack has been stood down. Keep the letter with the page that first described the crack.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which price reduction was based on repairing this crack?
- What does the engineer's letter say the crack now needs?
- Which other survey findings does that letter leave untouched?
What are the typical next steps?
- Tell the solicitor the reduction rested on a repair the letter does not support.
- Ask them to reopen that part of the price change.
- Leave unrelated survey findings as they were written.
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 you have already told the agent the new price, is the reduction frozen?
No. Telling the agent a figure does not freeze a reduction whose basis has gone. The letter says the crack needs no work, and the reduction was based on a repair the letter does not support. Go back through the solicitor. An earlier conversation is not a reason to pretend the repair is still required.
Does the engineer's letter erase the other defects the survey named?
No. The letter is about the crack and the work it says is not needed. It does not erase other defects the survey named, and it does not replace the whole report. Revisit the reduction that rested on this repair. Leave findings the letter does not discuss as they were written.