Leasehold

The survey is silent on how many years are left on a shared-ownership lease. Where does GOV.UK's warning about extending below 80 years belong, and why is it not a survey finding?

The warning belongs with the lease papers and the solicitor, not as a finding of this survey. The survey is silent on how many years are left, so it has not counted the term of this shared-ownership lease. GOV.UK warns that extending a shared-ownership lease can be much more expensive below 80 years. That is general guidance. It is not a calculation for this flat and it is not a defect the inspection found in the building. Ask the solicitor for the term. The survey did not read it.

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 shared-ownership lease sets the years left, the share being sold and the rent on the rest. Those facts are legal. A surveyor walking the rooms cannot see them in the plaster. Silence in the report means the term was outside the inspection, not that the lease is long or short. The GOV.UK warning is a prompt to check the term before you rely on an extension being cheap. It does not become a crack, a damp reading or a roof note. The building and the lease are different records.

Ask the solicitor for the lease, the years unexpired and the route for any extension, and keep that advice off the survey pages. The survey has not priced an extension and has not applied the warning as arithmetic for this address. Tell a lender the lease length was not a survey finding and must come from the title papers. Do not invent a term because the report left a blank. The blank is the point: the number was not inspected.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Does the survey state the years left on this shared-ownership lease?
Where does the GOV.UK warning about cost below 80 years belong?
Has the inspection turned that warning into a defect in the flat?

What are the typical next steps?

Ask the solicitor for the lease term rather than the survey.
Keep GOV.UK's extension warning with the legal papers.
Do not invent a term from the survey's silence.

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

Has the survey counted the years remaining on this lease?

No. The report is silent on the term, which means the years were not read and not calculated. A shared-ownership lease length comes from the lease itself. The survey of the building does not supply it. GOV.UK's warning about extending below 80 years cannot be applied to a number the inspection never had. Ask the solicitor for the unexpired term.

Does the guidance calculate an extension premium for this flat?

No. GOV.UK warns that extending a shared-ownership lease can be much more expensive below 80 years. That is a warning, not a premium worked out for this address. The survey did not do that arithmetic and did not read the years left. Any figure would have to come from the lease route the solicitor explains, not from this inspection.