Compliance Records for Commercial Property: What to Keep, for How Long, and Who Will Ask
- Several records are required by law in writing: the fire risk assessment, the asbestos register and plan, and the legionella assessment and its monitoring.
- Others are the only practical evidence of a duty: the EICR, the gas safety record, extinguisher service records, the TM44 report and the PAT register.
- Keep the current record and the previous one for each duty, and anything that shows a trend. Legionella monitoring records should be kept for at least five years.
- Insurers, buyers, lenders, tenants and enforcement officers all ask for the same set. One register answers all of them.
Compliance is proved on paper. A building can have a sound electrical installation, serviced extinguishers and a careful water regime, and still fail the moment someone asks for the evidence and it cannot be found. Records are also where most real gaps show up: the dates reveal the lapsed service and the missing survey. This guide sets out what to keep, how long to keep it and who will ask.
Records the law says you must have
- Fire risk assessment. Article 9 of the Fire Safety Order requires the significant findings to be recorded, and since October 2023 the whole assessment must be recorded for every premises. Keep the current version and the previous one.
- Asbestos register and management plan. Regulation 4 requires a written record of where asbestos is, its condition and the plan for managing it, kept up to date and available to anyone who may disturb it.
- Legionella risk assessment and monitoring. ACoP L8 expects the assessment, the written scheme and the monitoring results to be recorded, with monitoring records kept for at least five years.
- Employer's risk assessment. Required in writing for any business with five or more employees.
Records that are the practical evidence of a duty
- EICR. The report, the observations, the remedial works and the certificate for those works. Keep until superseded, and keep the previous one for the comparison.
- Gas safety record. The CP17 or CP42 for each inspection, plus any remedial notices.
- Fire equipment. Extinguisher service labels and the contractor's record, the alarm and emergency lighting log book with monthly tests.
- TM44 report. Lodged on the national register and kept with the building; it must be handed to a buyer or new tenant.
- EPC. On the public register, but keep the recommendation report, which is what a buyer and a valuer read.
- PAT register. Every appliance, result and next date.
- Maintenance records. The planned maintenance programme and what was done against it.
How long to keep each one
There is no single rule. A workable policy: keep the current record and the one before it for every duty; keep legionella monitoring for at least five years; keep anything relating to asbestos for as long as you control the building and hand it on when you leave; keep the records for plant and installations for their whole life, because the history is what tells the next inspector whether a fault is new. Where a lease requires you to hand records to the landlord at the end of the term, keep your own copies.
Fill the gaps in your records
The free compliance check lists every duty on the property, so you can see which records are missing and get a quote to put them right.
Who will ask, and when
Insurers at renewal and, decisively, at a claim. A fire claim with no current fire risk assessment or electrical report is a difficult conversation. Buyers and their lenders in due diligence, where missing records become price reductions or retentions. Tenants at the start of a lease, and landlords at the end of one, when the dilapidations claim turns on what was maintained. Enforcement officers from the fire service or HSE after a complaint or an incident, when the records are the first thing requested. Our guide to what happens when a property is not compliant covers what follows if they are missing.
One register
A single compliance register, one row per duty, with the last date, the next date, the contractor, the result and a link to the document, answers every one of those requests. Review it at a fixed point each year. For a portfolio, use the same format for every building so the gaps are visible side by side. Our guide to the compliance calendar gives the intervals to populate it with.
Filling the gaps
The free compliance check lists every duty on a property. Set it against your register, and get a quote for each record that is missing or out of date.
Sources & further reading
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 9 — the fire risk assessment must be recorded
- Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, regulation 4 — the asbestos register and written plan
- HSE: Legionnaires’ disease, ACoP L8 — records of the assessment and monitoring
- GOV.UK: find an energy certificate — the public EPC register
External links open in a new tab. ComSurv is a matching service, not a firm of surveyors, and is not affiliated with these organisations. This article is general information, not legal, surveying or valuation advice; take advice on your specific situation.
