Seller-side surveys
The seller offers to repair a rating 3 item before exchange. What should be agreed in writing, and what has the survey not supervised?
Agree in writing the exact item, who will do the work, the standard they will work to, and which papers you will see when it is finished. Agree whether you, or a surveyor on a fresh instruction, can look again before exchange. The original survey has not supervised the repair. It will not watch the work, and it does not become a sign-off because the seller has offered to put the rating 3 item right. An offer is not a completed job.
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?
Sellers often offer to repair before exchange so the price can stay where it is. That can be practical if the item is clear and the work is inspected afterwards. It goes wrong when the agreement says only that the defect will be sorted, with no trade, no description and no chance to look. The survey identified an item. It did not choose the contractor, stand over them, or check the finished work. Those steps are outside the report you already have.
Ask your solicitor to write the agreement into the correspondence: the item, the standard, the papers, and a look before exchange if you want one. Do not rely on a text from the agent. When the work is done, compare it with what was agreed, not with a vague memory of the survey. The home survey will still not have supervised anything. If you want a surveyor to revisit, that is a new instruction with its own scope.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which rating 3 item is the seller actually offering to repair?
- Will your report say you have not supervised that repair?
- What would a revisit need to look at if one were instructed later?
What are the typical next steps?
- Write down the item, the standard and the papers before exchange.
- Do not treat the original survey as supervision of the work.
- Instruct a revisit only if you need the finished repair looked at.
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 uses a proper trade, has the survey signed the work off?
No. A competent trade can do the work. The survey still has not supervised it and has not signed it off. Any sign-off would need a new look, agreed in writing, after the work exists. A later look would be a new instruction, not this survey.
Should the offer name a sum instead of the work?
The useful agreement names the work, who does it and what papers follow. A sum with no description does not tell you the item has been repaired. The survey has not turned the offer into a specification. The report never became a specification for how to do the work.