Renegotiating or walking away
The only notes are condition rating 1. Why is there no RICS basis for a price reduction from those notes?
Because the only notes are condition rating 1, there is no RICS basis for a price reduction from those notes. Condition rating 1 means no repair is currently needed, only normal maintenance. That is not a defect list to convert into a chip. What to do now advises you, the buyer. It does not turn routine upkeep into a sum to deduct from the price. If every marked element is rating 1, the report has not handed you a RICS reason to reduce the price from those notes.
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?
Buyers sometimes treat any comment as a bargaining token. Rating 1 is the comment that the element does not currently need repair. Normal maintenance is what owners do anyway. Quoting it back to the seller as if it were urgent work misreads the scale. The survey has not valued a reduction, and it has not told you to seek one from maintenance notes. If you want a price conversation, it has to come from somewhere else. These notes are the wrong fuel.
Read the ratings again before you write to the agent. If the only marks are 1, say so honestly, and do not upgrade them in the email. Do not average them with a not-inspected item to invent a worse score, and do not treat 'further investigation' elsewhere, if those words are absent, as if they were present. Ask the solicitor about price only if you have a real basis. Rating 1 maintenance is not that RICS basis.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Are the only condition marks rating 1, with no repair currently needed?
- Which notes are normal maintenance rather than a priced defect?
- Is there any rating you would actually point to as a reason to reduce?
What are the typical next steps?
- Do not ask for a price reduction from rating 1 notes alone.
- Read the marks again before you write to the agent.
- Keep normal maintenance separate from defects that need quotations.
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 house is old, do rating 1 notes still justify a chip?
No. Age is not a rating. Where the notes are rating 1, there is still no RICS basis for a reduction from those notes.
Does a rating 1 on a boiler mean it is new?
No. It means no repair is currently needed. It does not describe the boiler's age, and it is still not a price reduction.