Seller-side surveys
The seller offers a survey they commissioned last year. Why is that PDF not the same instruction as the survey you would book for yourself?
That PDF is the survey they commissioned, not the instruction you would book for yourself. The seller offers a report from last year. They were the client then. You were not. Reliance sits with the client, or with someone the firm later accepts in writing. Handing you the file does not, by itself, make you that person. A survey you book is a new instruction, on the building as it stands when your surveyor attends, with your name on the terms. Last year’s pages are not that visit. In Scotland a Home Report is a different product a purchaser is pointed to.
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?
A year is long enough for a roof, a leak, or a repair to have changed, and the style of the old instruction may not be the level you would choose. Even if nothing has changed, the duty was owed to the seller. RICS does not transfer that duty because a PDF was forwarded. You can read the document as information. You should not describe it as advice written for you unless the firm confirms reliance. There is no rule stated here that a report dies on a particular day.
Ask the firm that wrote it whether they will extend reliance, reinspect, or neither, and keep their answer in writing. If they will not, book your own survey. Tell the solicitor the seller’s PDF is the seller’s instruction. Do not edit it into a report that looks like yours. The offer saves you a file to read. It does not replace the survey you would book.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Who was the client on the report the seller has offered?
- Has the firm agreed in writing that you may rely on it?
- What limits and what date does that report actually state?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the seller’s PDF as their instruction, not as yours.
- Ask the original firm whether reliance can be extended in writing.
- Book your own survey if the firm will not extend reliance.
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 the seller’s surveyor will take your call, is the report now yours?
A phone call is not a new instruction and not a written extension of reliance. The survey remains the one the seller commissioned. Helpful answers do not put your name on last year’s terms. Ask for a written position. Until that exists, the PDF is not the survey you would have booked for yourself.
Can you rely on it because you are paying the purchase price?
No. Paying the seller for the house is not the same as instructing the surveyor. The report was written for the client who commissioned it. A purchaser is not made the client by the price. In Scotland, Home Report reliance is a different system, and this offered file is not a Home Report. Book the survey that names you, or get a written extension.