Age and type of house
The steps to a park home are loose and not fixed to the unit. What of the chassis has a loose step not described?
A loose step has not described the chassis at all. The steps are an access fitting that is not fixed to the unit. Their movement shows something about the steps, the ground they stand on, or the fixing that is missing. It does not show the steel chassis or the supports under the home. The survey has recorded loose steps. It has not crawled the chassis, and it has not turned a wobbly tread into a comment on that frame. GOV.UK treats a park home as a special case. The steps do not set the pitch fee or replace the written agreement.
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?
Park-home steps are often freestanding or lightly fixed, and they can loosen without the chassis having moved. They can also loosen because the ground has settled or because nobody tied them back. None of those possibilities is settled by watching the tread rock. The chassis is the steel under the floor, inside the skirting line, and a loose step never enters it. The survey can say the steps are loose and not fixed. That sentence ends at the steps.
Ask, through the solicitor, who owns the steps and who may fix them under the written agreement. A separate look at the chassis, if access is safe and permitted, is the only way to describe the steel. Do not let a site owner treat the step note as a chassis survey, and do not treat it as a change to the pitch fee. The survey of the unit has not set either. It has described a loose step and left the chassis undescribed.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Were the steps loose, and were they fixed to the unit or freestanding?
- What of the chassis, if anything, could you see from those steps?
- Have you left the chassis itself out of this comment?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the loose steps as a step defect, not as a chassis report.
- Ask who is responsible for fixing them under the written agreement.
- Do not treat the note as a change to the pitch fee.
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 steps are used every day, has the chassis been proved sound?
No. Daily use proves that people climb the steps. It does not inspect the chassis, and a loose step has not described that steel. The survey recorded the steps and did not use them as a test of the frame under the home. Soundness of the chassis remains unstated.
Does screwing the steps to the unit describe the steel underneath?
No. Fixing the steps would address the loose treads. It would not open the skirting or describe the chassis. The survey has not said the chassis is sound, and a later screw does not write that sentence. The written agreement for the pitch remains a separate document.