Renegotiating or walking away
The agent says the seller will sort the defect the night before exchange. What is missing from that promise?
What is missing is a written description of the work, who will do it, and proof it has been done before you are legally committed. A promise to sort the defect the night before exchange is not a quotation and not a finished repair. You would be exchanging on a sentence. What to do now advises you and does not bill the seller. Ask the solicitor not to exchange on that promise while there is still time to refuse.
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?
Last-minute promises are attractive because they seem to save the deal. They also arrive when you have the least time to check them. A condition rating 3 means the element is serious and/or urgent. The step attached to that rating is written quotations before legal commitment. A quotation names the work. A completion photograph, an invoice, or a second look may later show the work happened. None of those exist in a phrase from the agent about tomorrow night. The rating does not order you to withdraw. It also does not tell you to hope.
Tell the solicitor what was promised and that you do not yet have a scope or a result. What to do now is advice to the buyer. It does not invoice the seller to work overnight, and it does not make an overnight repair a rating 1. Rating 1 would mean no repair is currently needed, beyond normal maintenance, which a promise cannot award. If the seller can do the work earlier, with a description you can show a contractor, that is a different conversation. Night-before is not that conversation.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which defect is the agent promising will be sorted?
- What written scope would you need to see before exchange, not after?
- Are you being asked to treat a promise as a completed repair?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask for a written scope well before exchange.
- Tell the solicitor not to exchange on a night-before promise.
- Do not treat the promise as a new condition rating.
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
Does the rating allow you to wait and see until the night before?
No. The advice is to obtain written quotations before you are legally committed, not to exchange first.
If they do the work overnight, is the rating automatically a 1?
No. A rating 1 is a survey judgement that no repair is currently needed. A promise is not that judgement.