What Documents Should Every Homeowner Keep? A Complete Checklist

Why Keeping Property Documents Matters

Most homeowners tuck their completion paperwork in a drawer and forget about it. That works fine, until the day you need to sell, make an insurance claim, or dispute a boundary. At that point, tracking down missing documents can delay a sale by weeks and cost hundreds of pounds in indemnity insurance premiums.

A well-organised property document file protects your investment, speeds up conveyancing, and gives you a clear history of everything that has ever been done to your home.

The Complete Homeowner Documents Checklist

1. Purchase and Title Documents

These are the most important documents you own. Keep them permanently.

• Title deeds (or Land Registry title register and title plan, most properties are now registered)
• Completion statement from your solicitor
• Transfer deed (TR1 or TP1)
• Mortgage offer and redemption statement (once paid off)
• Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) return and receipt
• Searches carried out at purchase (local authority, drainage, environmental)
• Survey report (HomeBuyer Report or full structural survey)

2. Legal and Planning Documents

• Planning permissions for any works, extensions, outbuildings, dormer windows
• Building regulations completion certificates for works requiring building control sign-off
• FENSA or CERTASS certificates for replacement windows and doors
• HETAS certificates for solid fuel appliances and wood-burning stoves
• Party wall agreements and party wall awards
• Restrictive covenants and easements (check your title register)
• Indemnity insurance policies obtained at purchase

3. Guarantees and Warranties

Even expired guarantees can be useful evidence of work carried out, so consider keeping them indefinitely.

4. Energy and Services

• Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), valid for 10 years
• Gas Safety Record (CP12), issued annually by a Gas Safe registered engineer
• Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR), typically every 10 years for owner-occupied homes
• Boiler service records
• Solar panel MCS certificate and feed-in tariff documentation (if applicable)

5. Insurance

• Buildings insurance policy documents, keep each year's schedule even after renewal
• Contents insurance, keep current policy
• Claims history, insurers may ask for this when you switch providers

6. Maintenance and Improvement Records

• Invoices and receipts for all significant works
• Contractor details and contact numbers
• Before-and-after photographs of renovations
• Any structural engineer or architect reports

How Long Should You Keep Each Document?

• Keep permanently: title deeds, purchase documents, planning permissions, building regs certificates, party wall awards, indemnity policies
• Keep for the life of the property: guarantees, warranties, survey reports, improvement records
• Keep for 6 years: tax-relevant documents (SDLT, lettings income records)
• Keep whilst current: insurance policies, EPC, Gas Safety Record

The Property Logbook Concept

A property logbook is a single, organised record of everything relating to your home, documents, certificates, maintenance history, and media. When you come to sell, your solicitor will ask for many of these documents as part of the conveyancing process. Having them ready in one place can cut weeks off a transaction and demonstrate to buyers that the property has been well maintained.

Property Passport UK acts as a digital property logbook where you can store and share all of these documents. You can upload title documents, certificates, guarantees, and service records, then share them directly with your solicitor, estate agent, or surveyor, without printing a single page.

What Happens If Documents Are Missing?

If documents are lost or never existed, your options are:

1. Apply to the Local Authority for a copy of historic building control records

2. Regularisation certificate, if the works are accessible for inspection

3. Indemnity insurance, a one-off policy that protects the buyer if the missing document is ever enforced against

Uploading everything to your Property Passport as works are completed means you will never find yourself in this position.