Leasehold
The closer is missing from the flat entrance door. Has the survey fire-tested that door?
No. Noticing that the closer is missing from the flat entrance door is a visual comment. The survey has not fire-tested that door, has not timed how it shuts, and has not certified it against any fire standard. A missing closer can still matter, and you should tell the solicitor and the agent. The gap in the ironmongery is not a laboratory result.
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 home survey looks at what is there. A closer that is absent, a door that stands open, or intumescent strips that look painted over can all be recorded because they are visible. Recording them is not a fire resistance test, not a smoke test, and not a certificate that the door blank, the frame and the gaps meet a particular standard. The surveyor is not turning the landing into a test rig. Services and elements are reported within a visual inspection. Nothing in that inspection burns a sample or measures leakage around the leaf.
Pass the comment to the managing agent and to your solicitor as a maintenance point on a flat entrance door, and ask who is responsible for the door under the lease. Do not describe the survey as having failed the door on a test, and do not describe it as having passed. If a specialist fire-door inspection is what the block needs, that is a different instruction. Until then, the honest sentence is the short one: the closer was not on the door, and no fire test was done.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you test the door, or only see that the closer was absent?
- Are you avoiding any claim that the door passed or failed a fire standard?
- Who should be told about the missing closer, from your point of view as surveyor?
What are the typical next steps?
- Tell the solicitor and the agent the closer is missing.
- Do not describe the survey as a fire test of the entrance door.
- Ask who the lease makes responsible for that door before you order work.
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
If the door shuts on its own, has it been fire-tested?
No. Self-closing, if it happens, is not a fire test. A missing closer is still only a visual comment.
Does a rating on the door certify the rest of the landing?
No. One door comment does not certify other flats' doors or the stair.