Renegotiating or walking away
You want a price change before the drain camera the survey asked for has been done. What pipe condition is that request still guessing?
The request is still guessing the condition of the pipe the camera has not seen. The survey asked for a drain camera because the buried run was not inspected, and that camera has not been done. A price change talked about now has to invent whether the pipe is clear, cracked, displaced or blocked. The survey has not chosen, and the price talk cannot honestly choose either. RICS material on what to do after a survey is about acting on findings you have. Here the finding is a request for a camera, not a described pipe. The condition being priced is still a guess.
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?
What a camera records is the condition of the bore: cracks, open joints, roots, standing water, or a clear pipe. Until those pictures exist, any of those results is possible, and they are not the same. Talking about price before the camera collapses that range into one guess. The survey refused to guess by asking for the camera. Pricing the pipe anyway is not using a survey finding about the pipe. It is using the lack of one.
If the price talk is to rest on the drain, wait until the camera the survey asked for has been done and read. Ask the solicitor to keep any discussion tied to a known result, or to say plainly that you are going ahead without it. The survey has not supplied a pipe condition to argue from. Do not describe a guessed failure or a guessed clear bore as the report's finding. Either result would belong to the camera, and the camera has not been done.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which drain did you leave to a camera rather than describe?
- Is price talk before that camera still without a pipe condition?
- Have you avoided guessing whether the run is clear or failed?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the pipe condition as unknown until the camera is done.
- Do not settle a price for the drain from a guess.
- Ask the solicitor to tie any price talk to the camera result.
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 a chamber smells, has the pipe already failed?
A smell at a chamber is not a camera survey of the pipe. The survey asked for a camera, and that has not been done, so the pipe condition is still unstated. Smell can have several causes the report has not separated. Using the smell to set a price is still a guess about the run the camera was meant to see.
Can a compromise on price replace the camera?
You can choose to talk about price, but you would still be guessing the pipe. The survey has not described the bore, and skipping the camera does not create that description. A compromise is not a condition. The report asked for the camera. It did not offer a stand-in for the footage.