Age and type of house
The door to the loft room is held open with a hook. Has that door been fire-tested, or only seen?
The door has only been seen. A hook holding the loft-room door open is a fitting the survey could look at. It is not a fire test. The visit did not test the door, did not treat a label as a certificate, and has not decided how the door would perform in a fire. Whether this opening needs a fire-resisting door is a building-regulations question. The survey does not issue that certificate. The report records the hook and the door as seen.
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?
A door propped or hooked open cannot even be checked for how it meets the frame, because it is not shut. Smoke seals, a closer and the door leaf itself are separate from a hook on the wall. Seeing them, where they are visible, is still only seeing them. Fire performance is not judged by eye on a single visit of a home survey. The hook explains why the door was open. It does not grade the door.
Ask the solicitor for any building-regulations completion record for the loft room, including what it says about doors, and keep that paper outside the survey. The survey has not certified fire performance. Do not tell a lender the loft door was fire-tested because it was looked at. If you need that question answered, it belongs with the conversion papers or with a specialist instruction, not with the hook.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Was the loft door only seen, and held open on a hook?
- Did the visit avoid any claim of a fire test?
- Are conversion papers about the door outside this report?
What are the typical next steps?
- Record the door as seen, not as fire-tested.
- Ask the solicitor for the loft-room completion papers.
- Do not describe a visual look as a fire certificate.
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 the hook show that a closer is missing?
Not by itself. A hook can be used even where a closer exists, and it can be used where none was fitted. The survey saw the hook holding the door open. It did not carry out a fire test and did not inventory every piece of door hardware as a pass or a fail. Note the hook. Do not invent the rest of the ironmongery.
Can a door label be read as the missing test?
A label, if one was visible, is a mark on the leaf, not a test carried out on this visit and not a building-regulations certificate. The survey does not issue that certificate. Read a label only as a label seen. The hook and the open door remain a visual note, not a fire test.