Leasehold

The budget shows a reserve-fund contribution and the survey is silent on the fund. Why is the contribution an accounts figure?

The contribution is an accounts figure because it is a sum the budget asks leaseholders to pay toward a reserve fund, not a finding about the building. The survey is silent on the fund because a home survey does not audit service-charge accounts. Silence is not a statement that the reserve is empty, full, or missing. It is the survey staying inside condition. The budget line remains a money figure prepared by the manager. The report has not checked it, certified it, or translated it into a repair.

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 reserve fund, sometimes called a sinking fund, is money collected over time for large works. The contribution on this year's budget is the amount the manager proposes to collect now. It says nothing, by itself, about how much is already in the fund, what it may be spent on, or whether the roof the survey saw will be the thing it pays for. Those are account questions. The surveyor did not have the ledgers, and was not asked to reconcile them. Silence follows from that limit.

Ask the solicitor for the reserve accounts, not a sentence in the survey, and ask what the fund can be spent on under the lease. Do not treat a contribution line as proof the money is already saved, and do not treat the survey's silence as proof it is not. The condition of the flat and the state of the fund are separate. The survey has spoken only to the first, and only so far as the visit allowed.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Did you inspect any reserve account, or is the fund outside this survey?
Which building defects did you report that a reserve might, or might not, relate to?
Should a reader treat your silence as anything other than no audit?

What are the typical next steps?

Read the contribution as a budget figure, not as a survey finding.
Ask the solicitor for the reserve accounts and the lease rules on spending.
Do not treat silence in the report as a statement that the fund is empty.

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 budget shows a contribution, has the survey audited the fund?

No. The survey did not audit the fund, this year's contribution, or any balance brought forward. The line is an accounts figure in the budget. The report is silent because accounts are not the inspection. A printed contribution is not an audit opinion.

Does silence on the fund mean there is nothing in reserve?

No. Silence means the survey did not look at the fund. The reserve could hold money, or it could not. This report does not say. The contribution on the budget is only the sum proposed for the period of that budget. Ask the solicitor for the accounts if you need the balance.