Leasehold
Where a report pairs a flying freehold with the room over the passage, what stays open about support the survey can see and the title must still prove?
The legal right of support stays open, even where the survey can see the room over the passage standing. A flying freehold is a part of the property that projects over land belonging to someone else, here that room above the passage. The survey can record cracks, a slope or joists that look sound. Those observations are not the title. Support, and the right to enter the passage to repair, still have to be proved in the deeds. The report has paired the flying freehold with the room. It has not decided that the title contains the rights the structure seems to rely on.
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 room can be physically carried on a beam or a wall beside the passage and still lack a documented right of support. The neighbour who owns the passage may, or may not, be obliged to allow access for repair. The survey sees the building. The title sees the rights. HM Land Registry and the deeds are where those rights are shown. A ceiling that looks level is not an easement. What stays open is whether the paper matches the room that is actually overhead.
Ask the solicitor to confirm the flying freehold on the title and to look for rights of support and access over the passage. Give them the survey comments on the room as condition, not as proof of those rights. Do not tell a lender the structure was seen and therefore the title is fine. If the room shows movement, a structural specialist is a separate instruction. The legal gap remains even if the plaster is uncracked.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What signs of movement, if any, did you see in the room over the passage?
- Have you left rights of support and access to the title?
- Is the flying freehold named as a legal description rather than proved here?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the visible room separate from the unproved rights.
- Ask the solicitor to check support and access on the title.
- Do not treat a sound-looking ceiling as an easement.
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 there are no cracks, has support been proved?
No. Absence of cracks shows what the survey could see on the day. It does not prove a right of support in the title. The flying freehold over the passage still has to be shown in the deeds. The solicitor does that work. A quiet room is not the missing easement.
Does the passage owner have to allow repairs?
The survey cannot say. The right to enter the passage for repair is a title point, and this visit only paired the flying freehold with the room above. Whether the deeds grant access is for the solicitor to read. Seeing the room does not create that right. It stays open until the papers are checked.