Leasehold
The block policy's excess sits in the management pack, not in the survey. Why should you not invent that excess from the roof rating?
Because an excess is a number printed on the block policy, and a roof rating is a comment on condition. The two do not convert into each other. Guessing the excess from how bad the covering looked invents an insurance figure the surveyor never held. Read the schedule in the management pack, or accept that the figure is still unknown.
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?
People do this when the pack is late and the roof looks tired. They pick a round number that feels like an excess and then deduct it in a price negotiation. That number is fiction. The excess is whatever the schedule says for the relevant section, and it can differ between storm damage, subsidence and escape of water. The surveyor was not handed the schedule on a normal flat inspection, and a home survey does not become the policy because the roof was rated.
Ask the solicitor for the buildings schedule, the excess column and whether any claim is already open. Show them the roof comment so they can ask a sensible question of the agent. Do not tell the lender you have calculated the excess. There is no RICS scale that turns a condition comment into a deductible, and the management pack is the place that figure belongs, separate from the survey PDF.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you see a policy schedule, or only the roof covering?
- Which roof comments should the solicitor put next to the excess once it arrives?
- Are you silent on the deductible because it was never in your papers?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the solicitor for the block schedule and the excess.
- Do not invent a deductible from the roof rating.
- Keep any claims note in the legal file, not in the margin of the PDF.
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 roof is badly worn, is the excess probably high?
You cannot know. Wear is condition. The excess is a policy term. One does not predict the other.
Does a reinstatement figure in a valuation equal the excess?
No. Reinstatement, where a valuation includes one, is not the excess and not the repair bill.