Electrics and gas
The boiler is in a bedroom cupboard. What has the survey not checked about that cupboard?
It has not checked whether the cupboard is ventilated as a Gas Safe engineer would require, and it has not produced a gas safety record. The surveyor can see a door, a vent, or no vent. They cannot say the arrangement is safe because the boiler is indoors, or unsafe because it is near a bed.
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?
Boilers in sleeping rooms and in cupboards are a ventilation and location question, not a decorating one. The visit can record a sealed cupboard, a vent that is blocked by stored clothes, a door that does not close, or a flue that leaves the room. It does not measure free air, and it does not combustion-test the appliance. HSE expects domestic gas work to be done by an engineer on the Gas Safe Register. Looking into the cupboard is not that visit. Do not clear the shelves and call the boiler inspected.
Ask the seller for any recent service record, and do not treat a landlord-style gas safety certificate as something every owner-occupier must already hold. If you want the location and the air supply checked, instruct a Gas Safe registered engineer and mention that the boiler is in a bedroom cupboard. Their conclusion is their own. The survey remains a visual limit. A white plume at a terminal outside, or a neat casing, does not answer the cupboard. Do not invent a rule about how many vents a door must have. That judgement is the engineer’s.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you see a vent, a blocked vent, or no vent you could find?
- Is the cupboard in a room used for sleeping, as far as you could tell?
- Are you limiting this to what you saw, not a gas safety record?
What are the typical next steps?
- Do not box the boiler in further, or unblock vents, as a homemade repair before exchange.
- Book a Gas Safe engineer if you need the location and ventilation checked.
- Give them the survey sentence so they look at the cupboard, not only the badge on the boiler.
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
Does a carbon monoxide alarm on the bedroom wall pass the cupboard?
No. An alarm is not a test of ventilation or of the flue.
Is a service sticker the same as the survey?
No. A sticker is the engineer’s earlier visit, if it is genuine. The survey did not service the boiler.