SurveySorted
Menu
Sign in

Leasehold

The survey rates the roof of a shared-ownership house and the lease says the landlord repairs the structure. What has the rating not changed about that repairing duty?

The rating has not changed the repairing duty. The survey has rated the roof of a shared-ownership house, which is a condition comment on that roof. The lease, as you have it, says the landlord repairs the structure. A rating does not rewrite a lease. It has not moved the duty onto you, not taken it off the landlord, and not decided who pays. GOV.UK warns that extending a shared-ownership lease can be much more expensive below 80 years. That warning is about the lease term. It is not a change to the repairing clause either.

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?

Condition and obligation are different columns. The roof can need work and the lease can still say the landlord repairs the structure. Your survey is how you learn about the covering. The lease is how you learn whose job the structure is. Shared ownership does not let the rating hop the columns. If you want the duty confirmed, the solicitor reads the lease, including what 'structure' covers and whether the roof is inside it. The surveyor has not done that reading.

Give the solicitor the rating and the repairing clause together. Ask them to say whose duty the roof is, on the lease, and what consent any work needs. Do not tell the housing association the survey has altered their obligation. It has not. The 80-year warning from GOV.UK is a lease-extension warning, not a repair bill, and this note invents no marriage-value sum. The duty stands where the lease put it.

What should you ask your surveyor?

  • Did the rating describe the roof without rewriting the repairing clause?
  • Have you left the landlord's structural duty where the lease put it?
  • Is who pays still a lease question rather than a survey question?

What are the typical next steps?

  1. Read the rating as condition and the lease as the repairing duty.
  2. Ask the solicitor whose job the roof is under the lease.
  3. Do not tell the landlord the survey has changed that duty.

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 you pay for the roof yourself, has the lease changed?

No. Paying for a repair does not rewrite the clause. The rating has not changed the duty, and neither does a receipt. Whether you can recover the cost, or needed consent, is for the solicitor and the lease. The survey has not decided it.

Does the 80-year warning set the cost of this roof?

No. GOV.UK warns that extending a shared-ownership lease can be much more expensive below 80 years. That is about extending the lease, not about pricing this roof. The survey has not changed the repairing duty and has not costed either job.

Sources