Leasehold
The store you were shown does not appear on the lease plan. Can the survey add it to the demise because the key worked?
No. A key that opened the store does not add the store to the demise, and the survey cannot draw it onto the lease plan. The plan is a legal document. The inspection can note that you were shown a store and can comment on its condition if it was seen. Working keys are access, not title. Ask the solicitor whether the store is in the lease, on the plan, or merely a space someone is using. Do not negotiate as if the survey had already awarded 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?
Stores get used for years on a nod from a neighbour or a caretaker. The key feels like ownership because it turns. The lease plan is the drawing that says what the lease actually includes. If the store is missing from that drawing, the gap is a conveyancing question. A photograph in the survey, or a sentence that a cupboard was damp, does not correct the plan. HM Land Registry and the lease papers are where the demise is tested, not in the condition notes.
Separate the two tasks. Ask the solicitor to compare the shown store with the lease plan and the register. Ask the surveyor only what they saw if they went in: leaks, fire separation, or a space they could not enter. If they never inspected it, do not invent a rating for a room the plan omits. Access on the day is not a redrawing. Until the paper includes the store, do not pay for it as if it were already yours.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you inspect the store, or only hear that a key opened it?
- What condition comments, if any, apply to that space and to nothing else?
- Are you able to say you have not amended the lease plan?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the solicitor to compare the store with the lease plan.
- Do not treat a working key as a correction of the demise.
- Keep any condition note clearly labelled as condition, not as title.
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 store is full of the seller's belongings, is it included?
No. Belongings show use, not the demise. The lease plan is still the plan. A working key and a full cupboard do not redraw it.
Can the surveyor add the store because they stood in it?
No. Standing in a space records a visit. It does not amend the lease plan or award the store to the flat.