Non-standard construction
A steel lintel over a shopfront is a different finding from a frame carrying the flats above. How should the report keep those apart?
Keep them as two findings. A steel lintel over a shopfront carries the opening you can see. A frame that carries the flats above is a different structure, often hidden behind plaster and shop linings. Seeing one beam does not describe the other. The flat inspection does not inspect the block's external wall system, and it does not open the shop. Write the lintel where it was seen. Do not promote it into a system name for the storeys overhead.
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?
Shopfronts are altered whenever a retailer changes the glass. A lintel, a beam or a bressumer over that glass may be local to the opening. The flats can sit on a separate frame, on cross walls, or on ordinary masonry. Mixing those in one sentence makes a buyer tell a lender the wrong storey is steel. The report should say which element was visible from the flat, which was visible from the street, and which was boxed in. A flat survey is not a tour of the shop ceiling.
If the beam over the glass is rusty, that is a shopfront comment. It may still matter to the flat if the masonry above bears on it, but that link has to be argued from what was seen, not assumed. Concealed connections in the shop were not opened. Services were not tested. Ask your solicitor who repairs the shopfront under the leases, because the survey does not decide liability. Condition of a visible lintel and the name of a frame are separate lines.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you see a lintel over the shop glass, a frame to the flats, or only one of those?
- Was the shop itself entered, or was the comment made from the street and from the flat?
- Are the two pieces of steel written as separate elements?
What are the typical next steps?
- Repeat the survey's split when you describe the building to the lender.
- Do not call the upper flats a steel frame because the shopfront has a beam.
- Ask your solicitor who repairs the shopfront. Do not expect the survey to decide.
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 lintel is rating 3, is the whole frame rating 3?
Not unless the report says the same defect was seen in the frame. One opening is one element.
Does the flat visit include the shop ceiling?
No. A flat inspection does not open the shop or inspect the block's external wall system as a matter of course.