Preparing your property records before you sell

Most delays in a residential transaction are information delays. A buyer's solicitor raises an enquiry, the seller cannot find the answer, and a fortnight passes while someone contacts a builder who finished the job in 2019.

Gather these before you list

• Every planning decision notice and Building Regulations completion certificate for work done during your ownership
• Certificates for windows, electrics, gas appliances and solid fuel installations
• Guarantees for roofing, damp proofing, structural repairs and insulation, plus proof of registration
• Documentation for solar panels, heat pumps, EV chargers and battery storage
• Any indemnity policies already in place, and what they cover

Write down what you cannot evidence

If work was done by a previous owner and no paperwork exists, that is worth knowing early rather than mid-transaction. Your conveyancer can advise on the options, which may include regularisation or indemnity insurance, long before it becomes a chain-threatening problem.

Keep it in one place, not five

Records spread between a filing cabinet, two email accounts and a cloud drive tend to be incomplete when it matters. A single organised record, with dates and sources attached, means you can share exactly what is asked for and nothing more.

Project Passport keeps these records together in one permanent digital record of your property, so the drawings, approvals, certificates, warranties and photographs of every project stay findable years after the work finishes. It is an independent record-keeping platform: it complements, and does not replace, Building Control, HM Land Registry, conveyancers or professional advice.