Leasehold

Nothing on the visit sampled a reserve fund note, opened the lift motor room or tested a condition comment that is not the accounts. What has to stay undecided?

The lift, and the reserve that might one day pay for it, both have to stay undecided. Nothing on the visit sampled a reserve fund note, opened the lift motor room, or turned a condition comment into the accounts. A reserve fund note is a line in the service-charge papers, not a look at machinery. The motor room holds the lift gear, and its door stayed shut, so what is inside was not seen. A sentence about condition is not an audit of the fund. The survey has not decided that the reserve can meet future lift work.

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?

Lifts fail in ways a closed door conceals: the machine, the ropes, the guides and the pit. A reserve fund is money set aside in the accounts, and a note that mentions it does not show the balance, the calls still to come or what the fund is allowed to pay. The survey can repeat a condition sentence it was given, or make one about a lobby it saw. Neither sentence is the accounts. Because the motor room stayed shut, the machinery and the money remain two unknowns.

Ask the solicitor for the service-charge accounts and the reserve fund note, and ask the managing agent who services the lift. Tell them this visit did not open the motor room and did not test the figures. A lift specialist would need access the survey did not have. Do not describe the fund as enough, or the lift as sound. Both stay undecided until the accounts are read and the plant room is actually entered.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Did the lift motor room stay shut for the whole visit?
Was the reserve fund note copied from papers rather than audited?
Is the condition comment still separate from the accounts?

What are the typical next steps?

Leave the lift and the reserve fund both undecided.
Ask the solicitor for the accounts behind the reserve note.
Do not describe unseen lift gear as sound.

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 lobby lift looks new, is the motor room cleared?

No. A new-looking car in the lobby is not the motor room. Nothing on the visit opened that room, and a condition comment is not the accounts. The reserve fund note was not sampled or audited. Machinery above or beside the shaft stays unseen. Appearance of the car does not decide either the plant or the fund.

Does a large reserve note mean the lift will be paid for?

No. The survey did not audit the reserve fund note and did not test whether it can meet lift work. A mention of a fund is not a balance and not a decision about what the lease allows. The motor room was not opened. Ask the solicitor to read the accounts. This visit has not linked the money to the machine.