Leasehold

The reserve fund looks large and the roof over your flat is rated 3. Why does the size of the fund not cancel the rating?

Because a large reserve fund is an account balance, not a repair that has been done. The roof over your flat is still condition rating 3. Money set aside does not cancel that rating, does not make the covering sound, and does not mean the work is already instructed. The rating describes the roof the surveyor saw. The fund, if the accounts are right, describes cash the block may hold. One does not delete the other.

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?

Buyers treat a healthy reserve as a promise the roof will be paid for and can therefore be ignored. The rating says the roof element is serious, or needs urgent repair or investigation. A balance in a fund does not show that a contract has been let, that the specification matches the defect, or that your flat will stop getting wet. Until the roof is repaired, the condition comment stands, however comforting the accounts look.

Read the accounts with the solicitor, including what the reserve is actually for, and read the roof paragraph on its own. Ask the surveyor what they saw that drove rating 3. Do not average the fund and the rating into a milder version. If you want to know whether money is about to be spent on this roof, that answer is in the management papers, not in the size of the fund. Size is not a completed job.

What should you ask your surveyor?

What did you see on this roof that led to condition rating 3?
Does any comment of yours depend on the size of the reserve fund?
What would still need a quotation even if the fund looks large?

What are the typical next steps?

Keep the rating 3 roof even if the reserve looks healthy.
Ask the solicitor what the fund is for, from the accounts.
Do not tell the agent the rating has been cancelled by the balance.

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 fund could pay for a new roof, can you ignore the rating?

No. Possible future spending is not a repair already done. The rating stays until the roof itself changes and a surveyor says so. The balance does not cancel it.

Does a small fund make the rating worse?

No. The rating is about the roof, not about the accounts. A thin reserve may worry the solicitor. It does not rewrite the condition mark.