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Age and type of house

What is a flying freehold, and can the survey cure it?

A flying freehold is a part of a freehold that sits over land someone else owns, such as a room over an alley or a neighbour’s passage. The survey can describe the floor and the cracks. It cannot create a right of support or a covenant to repair. Your solicitor reads the title. HM Land Registry holds the register. The condition rating is not the title.

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?

These arrangements cause practical arguments when the alley roof leaks and nobody agrees who pays. The surveyor should say if they could see that structure. They should not advise you to “ignore the legal bit”. Indemnity policies, if a lender wants one, are legal products. This page states no premium.

Do not confuse a flying freehold with a lease, a party wall or a right of way. They can occur together and still be different papers. Ask the solicitor which of them this alley actually is before you renegotiate. The survey can describe the room over the alley. It cannot draw the title or say who must repair the structure that carries that room.

What should you ask your surveyor?

  • Which part of the building overhangs land that may not be yours?
  • Could you see the structure of that overhang?
  • Are you stating a title defect? You should leave that to the solicitor.

What are the typical next steps?

  1. Show the solicitor the overhang and the title plan together.
  2. Use the survey only for the condition of the floor and the roof over the alley.
  3. Ask the lender early if flying freehold is something they restrict. Do not wait until the valuation.

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

Is a bay window a flying freehold?

Not merely because it projects. The solicitor says whether the title is unusual. The survey says whether the bay is wet.

Does share of freehold remove a flying freehold?

Not by vocabulary. Share of freehold is about a leasehold flat and a share in the freehold. A flying freehold is a different shape of ownership.

Sources