Seller-side surveys
The seller asks for the whole survey PDF. Why is what you pass on a choice about your instruction, not a duty the survey form prints on the seller?
What you pass on is a choice about your instruction, not a duty the survey form prints on the seller. The report was prepared for the person who commissioned it. The seller can ask for the whole PDF. The form does not require you to hand it over, and it does not create a right for the seller to receive your file. You may decide to share an extract, the whole report, or nothing, and your solicitor is the person to shape that decision.
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?
Buyers sometimes assume the paperwork must travel to the other side because the house is the same house. The instruction is not shared just because the building is. The surveyor wrote for you, within the level you bought, with limits that a seller may want to argue with out of context. Sending the whole PDF can be sensible in a negotiation. It can also hand over comments you did not need to broadcast. Neither result is printed on the form as the seller's entitlement.
Ask your solicitor what, if anything, should be disclosed, and send only that. If you do share the report, send it deliberately, not because the seller said the form obliges you. The surveyor is not required, by the document itself, to copy it to the seller. Keep the choice with the instruction. Do not confuse this English or Welsh buyer's report with a Scottish Home Report, which is a different product the seller provides.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Was this report instructed by me, rather than prepared for the seller?
- Does the form say the seller is entitled to the whole PDF?
- Which comments would be easy to misunderstand if the whole file were forwarded?
What are the typical next steps?
- Decide with your solicitor what, if anything, to pass on.
- Do not treat the form as a duty to give the seller the PDF.
- If you share it, send it as a choice, not as an obligation.
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 paid for nothing, can they still demand the file?
They can ask. The form does not print a duty on them to receive it, or on you to provide it. Whether you pass anything on remains a choice about your instruction, shaped with your solicitor. The form still prints no duty to hand the file over.
Does sharing one page mean you must share the whole PDF?
No. An extract is still a choice. The survey form does not escalate one page into a duty to release the whole file. Agree with your solicitor what the seller actually needs. Sharing one page is not a duty to release the rest of the PDF.