Renegotiating or walking away
The seller will repair the gutter and wants you to drop a separate demand about the roof covering. How do you avoid paying for the gutter twice?
Split the gutter from the roof covering in every figure you still pursue. If the seller will repair the gutter, drop only the gutter, and only once a written note says the gutter is their job. Do not withdraw a demand whose quotation still hides the same gutter inside a price for the covering, or you can concede the gutter and still pay for it inside the roof figure. Ask each quotation to say whether gutters are included.
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?
Double counting happens when two pieces of paper use the word roof for different things. A condition rating 3 means that element is serious and/or urgent, and that you should obtain written quotations before legal commitment. Those quotations have to be readable side by side. If one price is for slates or felt alone, and another includes eaves gutters, downpipes and decoration, subtracting the whole of the second price because the seller will touch the gutter overpays them. The rating does not do that arithmetic for you.
Write a short schedule: gutter and downpipes in one line, covering in another, and any making good in a third. Mark the line the seller has agreed to repair. What to do now is advice to the buyer and does not invoice the seller for either line. If the seller's offer is only to clear or reseal a joint, do not describe it as a new gutter run unless their note says so. Show the solicitor the schedule before you tell the agent the covering demand has been dropped.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did your rating cover the gutter, the covering, or both?
- What exactly should a quotation list so gutter work is not buried in it?
- If the seller repairs only the gutter, which sentence in the report stays open?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask each quotation to state whether the gutter is included.
- Drop only the gutter line the seller has agreed, in writing, to repair.
- Show the solicitor the split before you withdraw the covering demand.
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 replaces the gutter, is the covering automatically sound?
No. A gutter repair does not re-rate the covering. Read the survey sentence that remains.
Should you invent one combined figure for both?
No. Keep the scopes apart. The rating does not supply a blended price.