Leasehold
What did the visit record about no EWS1 form, about a balcony soffit, and about cladding the form, not the survey, is asked to record?
The visit recorded that no EWS1 form was in the pack, what the balcony soffit looked like from the available view, and that cladding is for the form, not the survey, to record. An EWS1 form is a separate paper about the external wall of certain blocks. The soffit is the underside of the balcony. A survey can describe stains, cracks or open joints if it can see them. That description is not the form. The survey has not written the cladding record the form is asked to hold, and it has not decided what the wall is made of.
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?
Buyers sometimes find the form missing and assume the survey will stand in for it. It will not. The surveyor looks at what is safe to see: a soffit edge, a stain, a panel joint. The form is a stated record of the external wall system, produced under its own instructions. Absence from the pack is a fact about the papers. It is not a fire test, and it is not a filled-in form. The soffit note and the missing form should stay in different columns.
Ask the solicitor and the managing agent for the EWS1 form if the block is one where that paper is expected. Tell them this survey did not produce it and did not record the cladding in the form's place. Do not describe the balcony soffit note as that record. A facade specialist would be a further instruction if the papers and the view together need one. The report has left the form absent and the wall system unassessed.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Was the missing EWS1 form a gap in the pack rather than a survey finding?
- What, exactly, could you see of the balcony soffit?
- Did you leave the cladding record to the form, which was not there?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the missing form and the soffit note as separate facts.
- Ask the managing agent whether an EWS1 form exists for the block.
- Tell the solicitor this survey did not write that form.
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
Does a clean soffit fill the gap left by no form?
No. A tidy balcony soffit is a visual note. It does not become an EWS1 form, and it does not record the cladding the form is asked to record. The visit found no form in the pack. The survey has not assessed the external wall system. Clean paint on the underside does not close that gap.
Who usually holds an EWS1 form if the block has one?
The managing agent or the landlord is the usual place to ask, not the home survey. This visit recorded that no form was in the pack you were shown. It did not contact the agent and did not complete a cladding record. Ask the solicitor to request the paper. The soffit description is not a substitute.