Seller-side surveys

Should you tell the buyer that a recent boiler service means they do not need a home survey?

No. A service record is evidence about that appliance on the day the engineer saw it, while a home survey is a visual inspection for the buyer and does not safety-test services. The record is worth giving them. It is not a reason to skip the survey, and it is not the survey.

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?

Owners mix the papers up because both mention the heating. A service visit and a RICS home survey ask different questions and produce different documents. The survey may still say the boiler was not tested, even if you serviced it last month. That sentence is a limit of their inspection, not an insult to your engineer. Hand over the record, the installation papers and any warranty. Do not tell the buyer the house has been surveyed because the heating was serviced.

The same mistake appears with electrics. An owner-occupier is not under a landlord’s duty to produce an EICR just because a buyer asks, and a boiler service is not an EICR either. None of those documents is a Level 2 or a Level 3. There is no RICS rule that a satisfied customer on a service sheet clears the rest of the house. If the buyer wants a survey, the level is their choice. Your job is access and honest papers, not a substitute report.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Will you still say the heating was not tested, even if a service sheet exists?
Which papers should the seller provide that are not a home survey?
Are you instructing a survey, or only looking at an appliance record?

What are the typical next steps?

Give the buyer the service record.
Do not describe it as a home survey.
Let the buyer choose their level without being told the boiler has cleared the house.

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 new boiler inside a new house change this?

No. Newness is not a test, and a warranty is not the buyer’s inspection. They can still commission a survey.

If the surveyor sees the sticker, have they serviced the boiler?

No. Seeing a sticker is not a service. The limit in the report still applies.