Leasehold

The agent called the flat commonhold and the papers you have are an ordinary lease. Can the survey convert one into the other?

No. The survey cannot convert an ordinary lease into commonhold because the agent used that word. The papers you have are a lease. Commonhold is a different tenure for a block. The inspection describes the flat. It does not change how the flat is owned, does not register a commonhold association, and does not correct the agent's label. The solicitor reads the documents in front of you. Until those documents say commonhold, the survey will not treat the flat as if they did.

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?

Commonhold is a way of owning a unit in a building with a commonhold association, rather than as a leasehold flat under a landlord. An agent can use the word loosely for a share of freehold or for a residents' company. Loose speech does not change the title. If the paper in the pack is a lease, the starting point is leasehold. The survey has nothing to register at HM Land Registry and no power to convert tenure. It can only refuse to copy a wrong label.

Ask the solicitor to say, from the official copies, whether the flat is leasehold or commonhold, and to correct the agent if the sales description is wrong. Your mortgage offer and the searches follow the real tenure. The survey's room notes, damp notes and roof notes stay valid either way. They do not become a commonhold statement because the brochure used the word. Do not sign anything that repeats the agent's label until the solicitor has checked it.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Did you see a lease rather than commonhold documents?
Have you refused to adopt the agent's tenure label?
Which condition notes stay notes, whatever the tenure is?

What are the typical next steps?

Ask the solicitor to confirm the tenure from the official copies.
Do not let the survey repeat an unverified commonhold label.
Keep condition findings separate from the agent's wording.

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 block has a company, does the company make it commonhold?

No. Many leasehold blocks have a residents' company or a share-of-freehold company. That is not commonhold. The survey has not made the conversion. Only the documents, read by the solicitor, show which structure this block actually uses. The agent does not.

Should the agent be asked to correct the sales description?

Yes, once the solicitor has checked the title. A wrong tenure word in the particulars should be corrected by the agent. The survey is not the correction, and it cannot convert the lease you already have into commonhold on its own.