Renegotiating or walking away
You decide not to buy and you have the survey. Why does walking away not transfer that report to the next buyer as their instruction?
Walking away does not transfer the report to the next buyer as their instruction. You decide not to buy, and you still have the survey, because it was prepared for you. Keeping the copy does not make the next buyer the client who commissioned it, and it does not make the surveyor answerable to them on the back of your instruction. A later buyer who wants a report addressed to them needs their own instruction. Your decision to stop does not sign that for them.
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?
The report describes the house for the person who asked for it, on the terms of that instruction. When you walk away you may keep what you were given. Handing the file to someone else does not change who the client was. The next buyer was not the person who set the scope, paid the fee, or received the duty that goes with the instruction. They can read a copy if you choose to pass one on. Reading it is not the same as having instructed it.
Keep the report as yours if you walk away, and do not describe it to the agent as the next buyer's survey. If a later buyer wants their own report, they must instruct it. Tell your solicitor you are not proceeding, without offering the report as a transferred instruction. Do not ask the surveyor to readdress the same visit to a stranger as a favour the original instruction never included.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Who was the client on this instruction?
- Does walking away readdress the report to a later buyer?
- What would the next buyer still need to instruct for themselves?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the report as yours if you decide not to buy.
- Do not describe it to the agent as the next buyer's survey.
- Let a later buyer instruct their own report if they want one addressed to them.
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 you hand the report to the next buyer, have they instructed it?
No. Handing over the file lets them read what you were given. It does not make them the client, and it does not transfer the instruction. The survey remains the one prepared for you. A next buyer who wants reliance in their own name needs their own instruction, not your PDF.
Does the surveyor owe the next buyer the same answers they owe you?
Not on the strength of your instruction. The surveyor answered to the client who commissioned the report. Walking away does not appoint the next buyer to that role. If they want answers owed to them, they need their own instruction. Your copy does not create that duty.