Electrics and gas
A banner says services were not tested. Why can that banner not be read as a pass for the gas and the electrics?
The banner cannot be read as a pass because it says the services were not tested. Gas and electrics that were not tested have no result. An untested circuit is not a sound circuit, and an untested boiler is not a cleared boiler. The survey records the limit in the banner. It has not inspected the wiring by test, has not tested the gas, and has not decided that either service is safe to rely on. Read the banner as a gap, not as an all-clear.
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?
Home surveys look at visible fittings and say when a specialist test is outside the visit. A banner is that limit, written so it is not missed. Sockets, a consumer unit and a boiler can be seen and still be untested. Seeing a cover is not an electrical test and not a gas tightness test. The mechanism of the sentence is simple: no test was done, so no pass exists to quote. The banner is doing that job.
Ask the solicitor for any electrical installation condition report and any gas safety record, and check the dates and the address. Commission those tests if the papers are missing or old. A lender may want the specialist certificates rather than a line in the survey. The survey will not convert the banner into a pass if you ask it to. Do not tell anyone the gas and the electrics were tested here.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which services does the banner say were not tested?
- Are there specialist certificates in the pack with a date and this address?
- What tests would be needed before anyone called the services passed?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the banner as not tested, not as a pass.
- Ask the solicitor for electrical and gas certificates for this address.
- Commission those tests if the papers are missing.
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 banner mean the boiler was condemned?
No. Not tested is not a condemnation and not a pass. The boiler was not gas-tested on this visit, so the survey has no result for it. A specialist gas check is a different document. Do not tell the lender the boiler failed, and do not tell them it passed, on the strength of the banner alone.
Can a recent landlord gas record be treated as this survey's own test?
No. A gas record, if one exists, was written by someone else on another day. The banner says this survey did not test the services. The two papers do not merge. Give any record to the solicitor to check the date and the address, and keep the banner as the survey's own limit.