Seller-side surveys
The seller asks to read your survey before you discuss price. Does the instruction require you to hand it over?
No. The instruction does not require you to hand the report to the seller before you discuss price. You instructed the survey, and the report is prepared for you. A seller who wants to read it first is asking for a courtesy, not for a right the terms have given them. The survey has not been addressed to the seller. You may share some or all of it, or you may not. The instruction does not force the handover, and it does not force you to wait until the seller has read the file.
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?
Terms of engagement name the client and say who may rely on the report. In a buyer's survey that client is you. Letting the seller read it can help if you want a reply to a finding, and it can also show them your case before you have decided what to ask. The inspection does not make that choice. The firm wrote what it found for the person who instructed it. It did not promise the seller a first reading.
Decide what, if anything, you want the seller to see, and send that through the agents or the solicitors rather than assuming the surveyor must release the file. If you share it, the terms still say who may rely on it. The seller does not become the client by reading. If you would rather discuss price from your own notes of the findings, you can. Keep the choice with you and your solicitor. Do not treat the seller's request as a condition of the instruction you have already given.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Who is named as the client entitled to the report?
- Do the terms require the report to be given to the seller before price talks?
- If I share a copy, does that make the seller the client?
What are the typical next steps?
- Check the terms for who the report is written for.
- Decide yourself whether the seller sees any of it.
- Do not treat their request as a right to read it first.
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 I want a repair, must I send the whole report?
No. You can tell the seller the finding you want answered without handing over every page. The instruction does not require a full handover. If you do send the report, send it as your choice, and remember the seller is still not the client. A request for a repair does not rewrite who the survey was for.
Can the surveyor email the seller direct because they asked?
Not unless you tell the firm to. The report is for the client who instructed it. The seller's request is not an instruction. If you want a copy released, say so. If you do not, the firm should not treat the seller as the person entitled to the file.