Leasehold
A gap shows between cladding and a window head on the block. Has that gap produced an EWS1, or only a sentence in the survey?
Only a sentence in the survey. The gap between cladding and a window head has not produced an EWS1. An EWS1 is a separate form about the external wall, filled in by someone instructed to do that assessment. The home survey can write that a gap was seen. It has not completed an EWS1, has not classified the wall system, and has not decided from one gap what the form would say.
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?
A gap at a window head is a visual defect in how the cladding meets the frame. It may matter to weather, fire cavity barriers, or both, and the survey has not opened the cladding to see which. Writing the sentence flags it. Producing an EWS1 is a different instruction with its own signer and its own scope. Building-safety papers for leaseholders are for the solicitor and the landlord's pack. They are not generated by a sentence about a gap.
Ask the solicitor whether an EWS1, or another external-wall assessment, is already in the pack, and do not treat the survey sentence as that form. Raise the gap with the managing agent as a defect that was seen. Do not tell a lender an EWS1 exists because the survey mentioned cladding. The inspection has produced words. It has not produced the form.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did the gap produce an EWS1, or only a sentence in your report?
- What of the cladding junction did you see without opening it?
- Are you leaving external-wall forms outside this inspection?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the gap as a survey sentence, not as an EWS1.
- Ask the solicitor if an external-wall form is already in the pack.
- Raise the visible gap with the managing agent as a defect seen.
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 gap is small, can it be ignored as not an EWS1 matter?
Small does not turn it into an EWS1, and it does not erase the sentence. The survey has not produced the form either way. Whether a small gap matters to the wall assessment is for whoever is instructed to assess the wall. The inspection has only said the gap shows. Ignore it only if you are content not to ask.
Does the landlord's verbal reassurance count as the form?
No. A verbal reassurance is not an EWS1 and not the survey sentence either. The gap has produced only the sentence in the survey. The form, if it exists, will be a document the solicitor can read. Conversation at a viewing does not become that document.