Renegotiating or walking away
The lender mentions a retention about electrics and the survey did not test the wiring. Why is the retention not a finding the survey made?
The retention is not a finding the survey made, because the survey did not test the wiring. The lender mentions a retention about electrics. That is the lender's condition on the mortgage. It is not an electrical test result, and it is not a sentence this home survey reached by testing circuits. The survey was silent on a test because no test was done. A retention can be mentioned anyway. It does not become the survey's finding by being mentioned.
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?
Lenders set retentions for their own reasons, sometimes from the valuation visit and sometimes from criteria they do not print in your survey. MoneyHelper's distinction still applies: a mortgage valuation is not a structural survey. This report did not test the wiring, so it did not measure the electrics the retention refers to and did not produce an electrical installation condition report. You can ask the lender what they want. You should not pretend the surveyor tested the installation and then wrote the retention. They did not.
Ask the lender, through your broker or solicitor, what the retention about electrics is based on and what would release it. Tell them the home survey did not test the wiring. If an electrical test is required, instruct an electrician for that test rather than rereading a silent survey. Do not invent the lender's criteria. Keep their retention letter apart from findings the survey did not make.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you test the wiring the lender's retention refers to?
- Where in your report, if anywhere, is that retention written as your finding?
- What electrical certificate did this visit not produce?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the lender what the retention is based on and what would release it.
- Tell them the home survey did not test the wiring.
- Instruct an electrician if a test is required, rather than rereading a silent survey.
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 commission an electrical test later, does that test become a finding of this survey?
No. An electrical test you commission later is that later test. It does not become a finding this survey made, and it does not rewrite the fact that the wiring was not tested on the visit. The retention remains the lender's. The new test, if you get one, is a new document.
Can the retention be treated as a measurement the surveyor took of the wiring?
No. The solicitor can report what the lender has asked. They cannot turn the retention into a measurement the surveyor took, because the survey did not test the wiring. The finding was not made. The retention is still the lender's condition, not a test result hiding in the report.