Renegotiating or walking away
Who should send a proposal to change the price: the surveyor or your solicitor?
Your solicitor. The surveyor has reported condition to you. RICS’s “What to do now” note tells you how to use the report, including getting quotes before you commit. It does not appoint the surveyor as your negotiator. The solicitor knows whether you have exchanged and what the other side has been told.
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?
Copy the relevant pages and the quotes to the solicitor. Ask them to propose a price change, a repair, or a withdrawal. Do not email the seller’s agent a marked-up report in anger and contradict it the next day. If you are in Scotland, the solicitor or the selling process you are in may look different. Ask them. An English “before exchange” email is not a universal form.
The surveyor can clarify a sentence if the other side disputes what a rating means. That clarification should stay inside the definitions: rating 3 is serious or urgent, rating 2 is not, NI was not inspected. They should not be pushed to name a discount. If they are pushed, the honest answer is that the definitions contain no price.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which sentences in the report are the ones the solicitor should attach?
- Which sentences should not be paraphrased into “the surveyor demands a reduction”?
- What clarification, if any, are you willing to give without discussing price?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask your solicitor to send the proposal.
- Give them quotes, not a percentage.
- If the other side queries a rating, ask the surveyor to explain the definition, not to haggle.
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
Can the agent negotiate without the solicitor?
Agents often carry messages. If you want a binding change, your solicitor has to document it. Do not rely on the agent’s note alone.
Should the surveyor talk to the seller’s surveyor?
Only if you want that, and it will not produce a price. Two descriptions of a crack are still not a quotation.