Most British households keep their home paperwork in the same place: a drawer, a carrier bag, or a box file that has not been opened since the move. It works fine until a buyer’s solicitor sends the property information form, and suddenly a piece of paper from 2014 is the thing holding up a sale. Sorting out which home guarantees in the UK are worth keeping is an hour’s work that saves weeks later.
The certificates that matter are the ones a conveyancer, an insurer or a manufacturer will actually ask to see. Everything else is paper. Here is the honest split.
The nine worth keeping
1. FENSA or CERTASS certificates for replacement windows and doors
Any replacement window or external door fitted since April 2002 in England and Wales needs to show building regulations compliance, normally through a competent person scheme certificate. A buyer’s solicitor asks for this routinely, and its absence is one of the most common reasons a sale stalls. Replacements can usually be obtained from the scheme.
2. Gas Safe building regulations compliance notices
Not the annual service record - the notification issued when a boiler or gas appliance was installed. This is the document that proves the installation was notified and compliant. Keep it with the commissioning paperwork and the benchmark checklist in the boiler manual.
3. The boiler manufacturer’s warranty, plus every annual service record
The warranty is only alive if the servicing conditions were met. The certificates are the proof. Lose the run of services and you have a warranty on paper and nothing in practice.
4. Electrical Installation Certificates and EICRs
Any notifiable electrical work should have produced a certificate from a registered electrician under a Part P competent person scheme. Alongside it, keep your most recent EICR. Buyers increasingly ask, and a recent satisfactory report answers the question before it is raised.
5. Structural work approvals and completion certificates
For extensions, loft conversions, structural openings or underpinning: the building control completion certificate, the approved drawings, the structural engineer’s calculations, and any planning permission or lawful development certificate. This bundle is the one that causes the most trouble when it is missing, because it cannot be reissued casually.
6. New-build warranty documents
A structural warranty on a new build - NHBC being the best known, though not the only provider - typically runs for ten years, with a shorter initial period covered by the builder. The policy documents matter because the claim process is defined by them, and because a buyer within the ten-year window will want to see the cover transferred.
7. Damp-proof course and timber treatment guarantees
Worth keeping, with a caveat: these are only as good as the company behind them and whether the guarantee is insurance-backed. An insurance-backed guarantee survives the contractor going out of business. A company-backed one does not. Check which you have, and keep the specification that came with it.
8. Roof and flat-roof workmanship guarantees
A guarantee from an NFRC-registered roofer, particularly on a flat roof covering, is worth holding. Note the start date and the duration - most have conditions about maintenance and about who is allowed to walk on the covering.
9. Appliance receipts and extended warranties you are actually paying for
Keep the proof of purchase for anything still in its warranty period. Your statutory rights against the retailer depend on being able to show when and where you bought it.
The awkward truth is that a guarantee is only as strong as the entity standing behind it, and most homeowners never check. A twenty-year damp-proof guarantee from a firm that dissolved in 2019 is not a guarantee. It is a souvenir. Five minutes on Companies House tells you which one you are holding.
The four that are usually worthless
1. Guarantees from companies that no longer exist
If the issuing company has been dissolved and the guarantee is not insurance-backed, there is nobody to claim against. Keep the document only as evidence that work was done and to what specification - it still has value in that limited sense.
2. Extended appliance warranties that duplicate your existing cover
Check your home contents policy and your credit card benefits before renewing a separate appliance warranty. Paying twice for the same cover is common, and the standalone product is frequently the more expensive of the two.
3. “Lifetime” guarantees with no definition of whose lifetime
Lifetime usually means the working life of the product as determined by the manufacturer, not yours and not the building’s. If the document does not define the term and set out the claim process, treat it as marketing.
4. Workmanship guarantees with no registered trade body behind them
A certificate printed by the contractor, with no scheme membership, no insurance backing and no independent route to complain, gives you nothing you did not already have under consumer law.
Where the real cost of losing them shows up
At the point of sale. The property information form asks about windows, boilers, electrical work, extensions and guarantees, and every gap becomes a question from the buyer’s solicitor. The usual fix is an indemnity policy, which costs money, is arranged at the least convenient moment, and does not always satisfy a cautious buyer or lender.
Reconstructing the file in advance is nearly always cheaper than dealing with it during a transaction.
What to do in the next 30 minutes
Empty the drawer or box file and sort into three piles: property certificates, appliance paperwork, and recycling.
Photograph or scan every certificate in the first pile.
Check whether your damp-proof or timber guarantee is insurance-backed, and look up the issuing company on Companies House.
Note the expiry date of anything with a term - new-build warranty, roof guarantee, appliance cover.
Identify what is missing, and request replacements from FENSA, Gas Safe or the relevant scheme now rather than mid-sale.
Once it is scanned, keep it somewhere that survives a house move and a lost phone. Store guarantees in Home+ against the property, with expiry dates attached, so that the file exists before a conveyancer asks for it rather than being assembled in a panic afterwards.
FAQ
I have lost my FENSA certificate. What now? Replacements can normally be requested from FENSA or the relevant competent person scheme for a fee, provided the installation was registered. If it was never registered, speak to your conveyancer about the alternatives, which may include an indemnity policy or a building regulations application.
Is a boiler service record the same as a building regulations certificate? No. The service record shows the appliance has been maintained. The building regulations compliance notice shows the installation was notified when it was fitted. Conveyancers ask for the second one; manufacturers ask for the first.
Does a damp-proof guarantee transfer to a new owner? Often yes, but many require notification and some charge a transfer fee. Read the terms, and check whether the guarantee is insurance-backed before relying on it.
What happens if the company that gave the guarantee has gone bust? An insurance-backed guarantee should still be claimable through the underwriter. A company-backed one generally is not. The paperwork still has value as evidence of what work was carried out.
Do I need to keep paperwork for work done by the previous owner? Yes. Whatever was handed over at purchase should be kept and passed on again when you sell. Missing historic certificates are the buyer’s problem to raise and yours to answer.
Are digital copies acceptable to a conveyancer? Scans are usually fine for the initial enquiries, though some documents may be requested in original form. Keeping both a scan and the original is the safe approach.
