Leasehold

The report mentions a ground-rent review clause next to the lease the survey did not read. Has a price the report must not invent been tested, or only named?

Only named. A ground-rent review clause, set beside a lease the survey did not read, has not been tested, and a price the report must not invent has not been worked out. A review clause is wording that can change what is paid as time goes on. Because the lease was not read, the survey has not seen the dates, the method or whether this clause is the one in force. Naming it is not a calculation. The report has recorded that such words were mentioned. It has not decided what you would pay.

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?

Ground rent is a lease term. Some clauses step the sum up on set dates, some follow a formula, and some older leases differ from newer ones. None of that can be known from a surveyor mentioning that a review clause exists. Inventing a future figure would be guesswork, and the report must not do it. The unread lease is the document that holds the clause. Until the solicitor reads it, the price, the dates and even the existence of a review in this particular lease stay outside the survey.

Ask the solicitor to read the lease and to explain the ground-rent review clause in ordinary words, including whether any review is still ahead. Do not ask the survey to fill in a price. Tell a lender, if one asks, that no figure was tested or calculated in the home survey. The report named a clause beside an unread lease. The number, if there is one, lives in the lease and not in the condition pages.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Did you read the lease, or only hear that a review clause exists?
Has any ground-rent figure been calculated, or deliberately not invented?
Are the review dates still unknown because the lease was unread?

What are the typical next steps?

Treat the review clause as named, not calculated.
Ask the solicitor to read the lease and explain the clause.
Do not put a ground-rent figure into the survey findings.

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 current rent is small, can the review be ignored?

No. A small sum today does not test a review clause the survey did not read. The clause, if it is in the lease, is what can change the sum later. This report must not invent that later price. The solicitor has to read the wording. The survey has only recorded that the clause was mentioned.

Does the survey say whether the clause is lawful?

No. Lawfulness of a ground-rent clause is a legal question in the lease, which this survey did not read. The report named the clause and did not test a price. It has not decided that the wording is effective, spent or open to challenge. Those points belong with the solicitor, not with a condition paragraph.