Condition ratings
The seller offers their own damp contractor as the further investigation. What should you ask before you rely on that visit?
Treat the offer as a proposal until you have checked it. Before you rely on the seller's damp contractor, ask who instructed them, what they opened, which survey sentence they were told to answer, whether the report is in writing, and whether you may use it. A visit arranged for the seller is not automatically the further investigation you were advised to obtain for yourself.
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?
The survey's further-investigation line advises you, the buyer. It does not invoice the seller and it does not appoint their contractor. The seller may still offer help, and the offer can be worth taking if the paper is honest and usable. Ask whether the contractor is paid by the seller, whether any treatment is already being sold off the back of the visit, and whether you can speak to them without the findings being filtered. Ask what was opened. A look that left every surface closed may be a price, not an investigation.
Compare their written report with the walls and the question in your survey. If it answers a different question, it has not closed the line. Your survey's rating stays the surveyor's view of what they saw: rating 3 is serious or urgent and still points to written quotations before a legal commitment. A seller's report does not delete that sentence. The inspection they rely on was visual, not a guarantee of concealed damp. Accept the offer only when you can put a written report you are allowed to rely on next to the paragraph that asked for the investigation.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which of your sentences must their contractor answer before the line is covered?
- What opening-up would you have expected an investigation to include?
- Does a seller-commissioned report change your rating by itself?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask who instructed the contractor and whether you may rely on the written report.
- Check that the report answers the survey's damp sentence.
- Keep your original rating in the file beside whatever they produce.
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
Should you refuse any contractor the seller suggests?
Not automatically. Refuse to rely on the visit until the instruction, the opening-up and your right to use the report are clear.
If you pay them yourself, does that cure a narrow brief?
Paying changes who instructed them only if the brief changes too. A narrow look is still narrow if you fund it.