Choosing a survey level

The housing association has its own survey. Why might you still want one instructed for you?

Not instructed for you. The housing association's survey is their instruction, not yours, which is why you might still want a survey of your own. Their report answers the questions they asked, for the client they are. It does not put the surveyor in a duty to you, and it does not become your advice because you are buying a share of a leasehold home. A survey instructed for you is addressed to you. You choose the level, you see the limits, and you can ask the surveyor about the home you will be responsible for living in.

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 is still a purchase of an interest in a home, often leasehold, and the association has its own reasons to look at the building. Those reasons may be a valuation, a check for their process, or a report you never see in full. None of that is the same as a home survey commissioned by you. Leasehold costs, such as a lease extension and a roof, are different subjects again, and neither figure lives inside a condition rating.

If you instruct your own survey, say that the association's visit is not yours and ask your surveyor to inspect for you. You may be refused access to their report, or shown only part of it. Partial sight is not an instruction. Ask what your survey will and will not cover in a flat or a house the association still has an interest in. The reason to bother is simple: advice written for someone else is not advice written for you.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Who instructed the association's survey, and will you see all of it?
What would a survey instructed for me cover that theirs may not?
Which costs, if any, does a condition report refuse to price?

What are the typical next steps?

Treat the association's survey as theirs, not as yours.
Instruct a separate survey if you want advice addressed to you.
Do not expect either report to price a lease extension or a roof.

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 association already surveyed, do you have a survey too?

Not unless you instructed one. Their survey is not a survey instructed for you, even if it is about the same home.

Does their report tell you what a lease extension will cost?

No. A lease extension and a roof rating are different costs. The survey does not contain either figure, and it should not be asked to.