New builds and warranties
Trickle vents shown in the brochure are missing from the plot. Has the survey carried out an air test?
No. Missing trickle vents, against a brochure that showed them, are an observation about the frames on this plot. The survey has not carried out an air test, has not measured permeability, and has not signed a ventilation certificate. You can ask the builder why the vents shown in the brochure are absent. You cannot treat the survey as the test that was never booked.
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?
Brochures draw a vent in the head of the window. Plots sometimes arrive with a plain frame, a vent painted shut, or a vent omitted because a different specification was signed. The surveyor can count what is on the frames they see and can say the brochure does not match. That count is not an air-permeability test, not a fan test of the whole dwelling, and not a judgement that the plot fails a building regulation. The report should stay at the observation. If the surveyor starts quoting a result they did not take, the report overclaims.
Put the brochure page, the specification and the survey sentence in front of the solicitor and the builder. Ask which document forms the contract. A missing vent can be a snag against that contract without being a laboratory failure. If an air test exists, it will be a separate sheet in the building-control pack, with a method and a result. Go and read that sheet. Do not invent it from the gap in the frame, and do not ask the surveyor to backfill a number.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which windows lacked the vents the brochure showed?
- Did you measure air permeability, or only look at the frames?
- Will you keep any contract point separate from a test you did not do?
What are the typical next steps?
- Compare the brochure and the specification with the frames on the plot.
- Ask the builder why the vents are missing.
- Look for a real air-test sheet before you claim one exists.
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 condensation is on the glass, has the air test failed?
No. Condensation is something you can see. It is not an air-test result the survey never took.
Are closed vents the same as missing vents?
No. A vent that is shut can be opened. A vent that was never fitted is a different observation. Neither is an air test.