Leasehold

The upper maisonette's lease is said to put the roof on that owner and the survey rates the roof 3. What covenant has the rating not enforced?

The rating has not enforced any repairing covenant. The upper maisonette's lease is said to put the roof on that owner, and the survey rates the roof 3. The rating describes the roof that was seen. A covenant is a promise in the lease. The survey does not enforce it, does not sue on it, and does not decide that the saying about the lease is accurate. Condition and the repairing promise stay apart.

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?

Who repairs a maisonette roof is one of the clauses people misremember. It may be the upper owner, the lower owner, or a landlord. Said to is not the clause. The surveyor gives a rating from what they could see of the covering. That number does not compel the person named in a rumour to do the work, and it does not rewrite a clause that says something else. Enforcement, if it ever happens, is a legal step the inspection has not taken.

Ask the solicitor to read the repairing covenant and to say who actually has the roof. Use the rating as the condition you may have to live with or negotiate around. Do not write to the other owner as if the survey had enforced the lease. It has not. A rating 3 on the covering is a reason to care what the clause says. It is not itself the clause.

What should you ask your surveyor?

What covenant, if any, did the roof rating enforce?
Did you rely on being told who repairs the roof, or on the lease?
What condition of the covering does the rating actually describe?

What are the typical next steps?

Ask the solicitor to read who covenants to repair the roof.
Keep the rating as condition, not as enforcement.
Do not treat a saying about the lease as the lease.

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 both owners agree the upper flat has the roof, has the covenant been enforced?

Agreement between owners is a conversation. It is not the survey enforcing a covenant, and it may still differ from the lease. The rating has not enforced anything. Ask the solicitor to read the clause. Consensus at a viewing does not replace that reading and does not carry out the repair.

Does rating 3 prove the covenant has already been broken?

It proves the surveyor rated the roof 3 from what was seen. Breach of a covenant is a legal conclusion about a clause and about notice, which the survey has not made. The rating has not enforced the promise and has not found a breach. The solicitor reads the promise. The report describes the roof.