Leasehold

Water enters from the flat above and the RTM company has just been formed. What company record has the survey of your ceiling not read?

The survey of your ceiling has not read the RTM company's records. Water is entering from the flat above, and the right to manage company has only just been formed. The articles, the membership and the papers that say who must repair the building were not read. The survey has recorded water at the ceiling. It has not decided that the new company has taken the repair on, has not read the articles. GOV.UK explains that an RTM company in a qualifying block of flats takes on management functions. A look at a ceiling has not shown that those functions include this leak.

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 stain or a drip at a ceiling means water is arriving from somewhere above, which might be a flat, a stack or the roof. That is a building observation. Who must deal with it is a company question, and it lives in the articles and the notices, not in the plaster. A company formed only recently may not yet hold the functions people assume. The survey did not read those records. The ceiling note cannot be stretched into a company search.

Ask the solicitor to read the RTM articles and the formation papers and to say who is now responsible for water from the flat above. GOV.UK describes what an RTM company takes on in a qualifying building of flats. That is a legal reading. The survey has only described water at the ceiling and has not traced the path with a test. Do not assume the new company has already accepted the repair. No record of that acceptance was read on this visit.

What should you ask your surveyor?

What did you see at the ceiling, and what did you not trace above it?
Which RTM company records did you leave unread?
Have you avoided deciding who must repair the leak?

What are the typical next steps?

Keep the ceiling note separate from the RTM papers.
Ask the solicitor to read the new company's articles.
Do not assume the company has taken this leak on.

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 company has a bank account, has it accepted the repair?

A bank account shows that an organisation exists. It does not show the articles, and the survey of the ceiling has not read them. GOV.UK describes management functions an RTM company can take on. Whether this leak sits inside those functions is for the solicitor. The survey has not answered it from a stain.

Does water from the flat above mean the roof is at fault?

Not necessarily. The survey recorded water entering from the flat above. It has not traced the path and has not blamed the roof. A pipe, a bathroom or a roof defect could all show up through that flat. The company records are still unread. Neither the source nor the responsibility is settled by the ceiling sentence.