Leasehold

A shared-ownership lease may split repair of the stair window between you and the landlord. Has the survey read that split?

No. The survey has not read that split. A shared-ownership lease may divide repair of the stair window between you and the landlord, but the visit did not interpret the lease. The report can describe the window’s condition. It cannot say whose job the repair is, or in what share. That allocation sits in the lease, which this inspection has not decided. Do not treat a condition note as the repairing clause.

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?

Shared ownership often leaves structure, windows and services allocated in wording a surveyor is not instructed to construe. A stair window may be outside your demise, inside it, or split in a way the photos will not show. The survey records defects it can see, such as failed putty or a rotten sill, without pricing anyone’s share and without rewriting the lease. Two buyers can see the same cracked light and still have different repairing duties.

Ask the solicitor to read the lease on the stair window and to say, in writing, who repairs it. GOV.UK warns that extending a shared-ownership lease can be much more expensive below 80 years, and the survey has not calculated that cost either. A lender may want both the repairing duty and the lease term understood from the papers. This report does not decide either one.

What should you ask your surveyor?

What does the report actually say about the stair window’s condition?
Which lease clause, if any, was the surveyor given?
Does any sentence allocate the repair to you or the landlord?

What are the typical next steps?

Ask the solicitor to read the repairing clause for that window.
Keep condition and lease allocation as two separate questions.
Do not assume an even split the survey never read.

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

Does a landlord’s handbook override the lease?

A handbook is not the lease. The survey has not read the split in either document, and a handbook summary can lag behind the lease you would actually buy under. Ask the solicitor to use the lease itself for the stair window. The report still only describes condition, not who pays for the repair.

Has anyone’s share of the window repair been calculated?

No. The survey has not calculated anyone’s share of the stair window, because it has not read the split and it does not price repairs. The lease may divide the work, but that division is for the solicitor to explain from the document. Do not turn a condition note into a bill split between you and the landlord.