Windows, doors and glazing
Replacement sashes have no trickle vents. Has the survey decided they meet ventilation requirements for the work?
No. Replacement sashes with no trickle vents have not been decided to meet the ventilation requirements for the work. The visit recorded that the vents are absent. Approved Document F is ventilation guidance for building work, and this survey does not issue a building-regulations certificate. Missing vents are a visual fact. No airflow was measured. Whether this installation needed background vents, and whether some other provision was accepted, is not settled by the report.
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?
Trickle vents are small openings in the frame that let background air in when the sash is shut. New or replacement windows are often expected to provide that background ventilation, but the route, the date and any agreed alternative sit in the building-control papers, which are not decided here. The surveyor can see a sash with a solid head and no slot. That look does not measure airflow and does not confirm or refuse compliance. The note stays a description of what is missing.
Ask the solicitor for any approval paperwork for the replacement sashes, and keep it apart from this report. The survey has not issued a building-regulations certificate and has not decided the ventilation requirement is met. A lender may want those papers if the windows are recent. If nothing is produced, the missing vents remain an open question for the proper authority, not a pass written by the surveyor.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which sashes have no trickle vents?
- What ventilation paper, if any, was in the pack?
- Does the report stop short of a compliance decision?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the missing vents as a visual note only.
- Ask the solicitor what approval papers exist for the sashes.
- Do not treat the survey as a ventilation approval.
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 night latch count as the missing vent?
No. A night latch lets a sash sit ajar. It is not a trickle vent, and this visit did not decide that a latch meets Approved Document F. The survey records sashes with no trickle vents and does not issue a building-regulations certificate. Background ventilation for the work stays undecided.
Were the rooms’ air change rates measured?
No. Humidity, airflow and air change were not measured. The surveyor saw replacement sashes without trickle vents and recorded that absence. Approved Document F is guidance for building work, not a test result from this visit. The report has not decided the ventilation requirement is met.