Leasehold
The EWS1 in the pack states an option and the survey does not copy the letter. Why should you read the form itself?
Read the form itself because the survey has not copied the option letter. An EWS1 states an option about the external wall, and that letter is the point of the form. The home survey is a condition report on the flat. It is not a second EWS1, and leaving the letter off the page is deliberate: the surveyor is not reissuing or confirming the option. If you rely on a paraphrase, you can attach the wrong option to the block. The pack already contains the form. That is the document to read, not a sentence the survey never wrote.
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?
The option on an EWS1 is a defined choice on that form, made by the person who signed it, about the external wall assessment they carried out. A home survey does not repeat that choice as if the surveyor had made it. Copying the letter into a condition report would look like endorsement. Omitting it keeps the two documents apart. You still need the letter, the date, and the name on the form, because those are what a lender or a solicitor will ask about.
Ask the solicitor to check that the EWS1 in the pack matches the block and is the version they are prepared to rely on. Do not ask the surveyor to insert the option letter into the report. A lender's question about the option is a question about that form, not about cracked plaster or a stained ceiling in the flat. Keep the survey for condition. Keep the EWS1 for the option it actually states.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you deliberately leave the EWS1 option letter out of the report?
- Is the form in the pack a document you have not reissued?
- Which parts of the flat did you comment on as condition only?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the EWS1 in the pack, including the option letter.
- Ask the solicitor to confirm the form belongs to this block.
- Do not treat the survey as a copy or a confirmation of that option.
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
Can a stained panel in the flat change the option on the form?
No. A stain the surveyor saw is a condition note about what was visible. It does not rewrite the option on an EWS1 signed by someone else. The two papers answer different questions. If the stain worries you, ask the surveyor what they saw, and ask the solicitor what the form already says. Do not merge them into one conclusion.
Should the survey be rewritten before a solicitor reads the pack?
No. The letter is already on the form in the pack. Waiting for it to be typed into the survey confuses the two documents. The solicitor can read the EWS1 as it stands. The survey will not become more accurate by acquiring a letter the surveyor chose not to copy.