New builds and warranties
The snagging photographs in the pack show a plot number that is not yours. What should you not negotiate from those pictures?
Not those pictures: you should not negotiate from snagging photographs that show a plot number that is not yours. They may record another home's cracks, unfinished joints or decoration. Using them as if they were your plot invents defects, or misses yours. A home survey, where you have one, is about the property that was inspected. Photographs of a different plot number are the wrong evidence. Do not put them in front of the developer as your snagging list.
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?
Site packs get mixed up. A plot number in the corner of a photo is the check, and here it fails. The image might be a show house or the next-door frame. None of that becomes your negotiation because it was stapled in your envelope. RICS home surveys inspect the property in the instruction. They do not adopt a photograph of somewhere else. If your own visit could not see a particular item, the wrong plot's photo does not fill that gap.
Sort the pack into photographs that show your plot number and photographs that do not, and set the second pile aside. Negotiate, if you negotiate, from your plot: your survey, your snagging notes, your addresses. Do not let an agent smooth a defect on your house by pointing at a tidy picture of another one. Wrong photographs are not a credit and not a debit. They are the wrong building.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which of your notes, if any, rely on a photograph of this plot only?
- Did you inspect the plot in the instruction, rather than a picture of another?
- What should be ignored because the plot number is not yours?
What are the typical next steps?
- Set aside every photograph whose plot number is not yours.
- Do not negotiate from those pictures.
- Use only notes and photographs that belong to your plot.
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 wrong plot shows a worse crack, can you use it as leverage?
No. A worse crack on another plot is not your defect. You should not negotiate from photographs that are not of your plot.
If the wrong plot looks perfect, is yours cleared?
No. A tidy photograph of a different plot number does not inspect your house and does not clear it. You should not negotiate from those pictures.