Leasehold

A soil pipe passes through a ceiling that should separate flats, and the hole around it is open. What has the survey not fire-stopped?

It has not fire-stopped the hole. The survey can record that a soil pipe passes through a ceiling between flats and that the gap around it is open. Recording the opening is not the same as filling it, testing it, or stating a fire performance. The inspection does not carry fire-stopping, and it has not certified the separation. Do not invent a rating in minutes, or a product, for a gap the report has only described as open.

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?

An open hole around a pipe is a thing you can see. What you cannot see is a completed stop. The surveyor's job is to say that, and to say which ceiling, if they could tell the ceiling separates flats. It is not to install a collar, to quote a period of fire resistance, or to sign the compartment as intact. If the report stops at the open gap, leave it there. Do not upgrade the sentence into a test certificate.

Tell the solicitor, because separation between flats is as much a lease and block issue as a plaster issue. Ask the surveyor exactly what was open and what they could not see above the ceiling. A contractor's later proposal to fill the gap is a new piece of paper. It is not a result the survey already achieved. Until someone competent closes it, the inspection's point stands: the hole was open, and the survey did not fire-stop it.

What should you ask your surveyor?

What exactly was open around the soil pipe, and on which ceiling?
Did you see any fire-stopping, or only the gap?
Are you describing the opening, rather than certifying the separation?

What are the typical next steps?

Read the note as an open hole, not as a fire test.
Do not add a fire performance the survey did not state.
Ask the solicitor how separation between the flats is dealt with in the papers.

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 pipe is plastic, has the survey failed the ceiling?

The survey has not fire-stopped the hole, and it has not certified the ceiling. Pipe material alone is not a fire result. Stick to the open gap that was seen.

Can you fill the hole before exchange and call the survey done?

You do not own the flat yet, and filling a hole is not something the survey has already done. Any later work is a new job, not a result written into this visit.