Leasehold

The report places a balcony, a demise the lease plan was not in the surveyor's bag and repairing duty the survey should not invent in one paragraph. Which of those were inspected, and which were merely named?

The balcony was inspected only as far as the surveyor could see it. The demise was merely named, because the lease plan was not in the surveyor's bag. Repairing duty was also only named: the survey should not invent who must repair. The visit has not decided that the balcony is demised with the flat, and it has not decided whether the landlord, the leaseholder or someone else must pay for work. Condition comments on what was visible stay separate from those legal labels.

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 balcony can be part of the flat, part of the structure, or shared, and the difference sits in the lease and the plan, not in the view from the door. The surveyor can note rails, decking, stains and how the balcony meets the wall. That is a condition look. It does not trace a plan that was absent, and it does not allocate the cost of future work. One paragraph means they were discussed together, not that they were all inspected to the same depth.

Ask the solicitor for the lease and the lease plan, and for a reading of who owns the balcony and who repairs it. Do not let the report's paragraph stand in for that advice. If the visible balcony needs work, the solicitor can then match the defect to the right party. A lender may ask how repairs to common parts are organised. The survey has not answered that. Service-charge consequences, if any, belong in the legal pack, not in a guessed duty.

What should you ask your surveyor?

What parts of the balcony were actually seen, and from where?
Does the report say the lease plan was absent, so the demise is unknown?
Which sentence, if any, refuses to allocate the repairing duty?

What are the typical next steps?

Get the lease and the lease plan from the solicitor.
Keep the visible balcony note separate from ownership.
Ask who repairs the balcony before you rely on the paragraph.

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 rail looks sound, is the balcony inside the demise?

A sound-looking rail is a condition comment on what was visible. It says nothing about the red line on a lease plan the surveyor did not have. Demise is a legal boundary. Your solicitor reads that from the lease, not from the state of the metalwork. The survey has not decided the boundary.

Could a later managing-agent letter change what the survey saw?

A managing-agent letter can explain how the building deals with balconies and repairs. It cannot alter what the surveyor was able to see on the day, and it cannot fill in a plan that was not there. Pass the letter to your solicitor. Keep it beside the report rather than treating it as a revised inspection.