Seller-side surveys
The report's reliance wording names the seller. Why is that a reason not to treat the PDF as advice addressed to you?
The reliance wording names the seller, and that is why the PDF is not advice addressed to you. A report speaks to the person the terms name. Here that person is the seller. You can learn from the pages, but learning is not the same as being the client the wording protects. The survey has not been readdressed. The clause does the opposite: it tells you who may rely. The name in the clause is the point.
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?
Duty follows the engagement. If the clause names the seller, the firm's responsibility, as written, is to the seller. A buyer holding a copy has information, not that duty. Nothing on the cover photograph changes the clause. Do not confuse this with a product in which a purchaser is the person entitled to rely. This wording names the seller, so the advice in the contractual sense is theirs. Your own decisions still need advice written to you if you need to rely on it.
Show the reliance clause to your solicitor and ask whether the firm will address a letter to you. If it will not, commission a report of your own rather than arguing with the name on this one. Do not tell a lender the PDF is advice to you. Keep the seller's name visible whenever you forward the file, so nobody treats the clause as blank.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Does the reliance wording name the seller?
- Are you treating that name as a reason the advice is not addressed to you?
- Has any later letter readdressed the report?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the reliance clause before you treat the PDF as yours.
- Ask whether the firm will address a letter to you.
- Commission your own report if the clause stays with the seller.
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 your name is on the email that sent the PDF, are you the client?
An email address is not the reliance clause. The clause names the seller. Sending the file to you does not rewrite it. The PDF is still not advice addressed to you unless a later letter says so. The inbox does not rename the client.
Does a shared login to the report change the clause?
No. Access to a file is not reliance. The wording still names the seller. You can read what was written and still not be the person the terms protect. The clause, not the login, decides that. Reading is not being the client.