Leasehold

A communal aerial is fixed to the block roof and your flat survey did not go onto that roof. What of the roof fixings is outside the flat inspection?

The fixings of the communal aerial, and the roof they are fixed to, are outside this flat inspection. The aerial is on the block roof, and the survey of the flat did not go onto that roof. What was not seen is how the brackets are held, whether they have pierced the covering, and what the roof is doing around them. The survey has recorded an aerial on a roof it did not walk. It has not cleared those fixings and it has not inspected the block roof.

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 flat inspection covers the flat and the common parts reached on the routes the surveyor used. A roof that was not accessed stays uninspected, including anything bolted to it. An aerial can puncture a covering, load a parapet or leave a cable entry that lets water in. None of that is judged from a socket in the living room. The report has not become a roof survey of the block merely because the aerial serves more than one flat.

Ask the solicitor who is responsible for the roof and for aerials under the lease, and whether any roof report already exists. Do not read the flat survey as a pass for the brackets. If the roof needs to be looked at, that is a separate instruction with access arranged. The survey has not tested the signal and it has not said the fixings are sound. The limitation is the roof that was not walked.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Did the flat survey stop short of the block roof?
Were the aerial brackets and their fixings therefore unseen?
Has any damage to the covering around the aerial been left unjudged?

What are the typical next steps?

Treat the aerial fixings as outside the flat inspection.
Ask the solicitor who repairs the block roof and the aerial.
Do not read this report as a pass for the roof brackets.

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 picture in the flat is clear, are the fixings sound?

No. A picture on a screen says nothing about brackets on a roof the survey did not walk. The signal can be fine while a fixing has pierced the covering, or the signal can be poor for a reason inside the flat. The inspection has not seen the fixings. Reception is not a roof survey.

Does the lease automatically put the aerial on the freeholder?

Not automatically, and the survey has not decided it. Aerials and roofs are dealt with in the lease, which the inspection has not construed. Some blocks treat the aerial as communal and some do not. Ask the solicitor to read the clause. The report only says the roof, and the fixings on it, were outside the flat visit.