Leasehold

The service-charge budget has a line for roof repairs and the survey rates the roof 2. Why is the budget line not a condition rating?

The budget line is not a condition rating because it is an accounts figure, not the surveyor's look at the roof. The service-charge budget sets out money the manager expects to spend, and one line names roof repairs. The survey has separately given the roof a rating of 2. Those are different authors and different jobs. A sum on a budget does not grade the tiles, and a condition rating does not become the budget. The survey has not adopted the manager's line as its own finding, and the budget has not inspected the roof.

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?

Service-charge budgets are prepared by the landlord or the managing agent as a forecast of spending. A line for roof repairs can be a provision, a project carried forward, or a label copied from last year. It does not say what the surveyor saw, and it does not say the works have been specified. The rating comes from the inspection. It can sit next to a budget line that is hopeful or stale. Neither document edits the other by being in the same pack.

Ask the solicitor what the roof line in the budget refers to, which year it belongs to, and whether any specification or tender sits behind it. Read the survey's roof comment for condition, including what was not inspected. Do not add the two together and call the result a rated and funded repair. The survey has not costed the works, and the budget has not rated the covering.

What should you ask your surveyor?

What condition comment sits behind the roof rating, separate from the budget?
Did you inspect the budget, or is that line outside the survey?
Which parts of the roof were not inspected when the rating was given?

What are the typical next steps?

Read the budget line as an accounts figure, not as the roof rating.
Read the rating as the surveyor's condition comment only.
Ask the solicitor what works, if any, sit behind the budget line.

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 names roof repairs, has the survey adopted that name as its rating?

No. The survey rated the roof from the visit. It did not adopt the manager's budget heading, and a shared word does not merge the documents. The line is money the budget expects. The rating is condition. One has not become the other because both mention the roof.

Can a budget line tell you the roof was opened up?

No. A line of text in a budget does not open a roof, and it does not say the surveyor opened one. The survey rated what it could see and should say what it could not. The budget is silent on access because it is not an inspection record at all.