Selling your home: China-bought fixture documents
Keep a property file linking each China-bought fixture to its invoice, specification, installation certificates, building-control completion record where applicable, warranty and repair history. Ask your conveyancer about gaps and warranty transfer before selling. Request missing factory records through Cambridge China Bridge.
Build a file around the installed fixtures
As a practical filing policy, keep these records throughout your ownership, prepare a handover copy for the buyer and retain your own archive after the sale. Start an index with the property address, fixture location, purchase and installation dates, supplier, installer and model or batch reference. Include invoices, agreed specifications, manuals and photographs of identification labels.
Save original Chinese factory documents alongside English translations, and identify who prepared each translation. Connect reports to the actual installed model using our test-report coverage guide. If you imported through your business, keep the shipment archive separately using our HMRC import-records guide; ask your conveyancer which extracts belong in the sale pack.
Collect installation and completion records
For an ordinary home project in England, collect the relevant installer compliance certificate or building-control completion record, as applicable. Government guidance says a full plans application usually leads to a completion certificate if the finished work complies. Our China windows and building-control guide explains the approval routes before ordering. For a property elsewhere in the UK, ask your conveyancer which local records apply.
Keep electrical installation and test certificates, boiler or heating commissioning records, window certificates and servicing reports where issued. File building-control application references, drawings, inspection correspondence and completion documents together. Check the address, work description and dates against your index. Label each document by its stated purpose so that a later condition report is not presented as the original installation record.
Check what the warranties actually cover
Keep the complete warranty terms, purchase evidence, registration confirmation and any separate installation guarantee. Record the named provider, covered products, start date, expiry, exclusions and claims contact. Keep factory product warranties separate from installer workmanship guarantees and any insurance-backed cover. Preserve service records, repair invoices, replacement details and unresolved claim correspondence.
Ask each provider whether cover can pass to a future owner, what notification or paperwork it needs, and whether there is a charge. Obtain the answer in writing rather than promising the buyer that cover transfers. Clarify whether a claim covers only replacement parts or also labour, removal, transport and refitting. Ask your conveyancer how to describe expired, disputed or non-transferable cover.
Give missing documents to your conveyancer early
Government selling guidance says you can instruct a legal representative to check your property title and information as soon as you decide to sell. Send your fixture index with documents marked available, missing or awaiting confirmation. Distinguish a certificate you cannot locate from work for which you do not know whether a certificate was ever issued.
Ask your conveyancer which duplicates to request from the installer, scheme operator or building-control body, and in what order. Before approaching the council about uncertain approval, ask whether that contact affects any proposed indemnity insurance option. Ask whether retrospective approval, further inspection or remedial work needs consideration, and what the buyer or lender is requesting. Record the advice and agreed action.
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Resolve the sale description and handover
Ask your conveyancer how to describe the installation history in the property information paperwork, which supporting records to supply, and how to explain gaps or outstanding defects accurately. Confirm which fixtures will remain with the home and whether warranty transfer needs action before completion. Supply factory evidence as product documentation, with installation and completion records separately identified.
Prepare a buyer pack containing the fixture index, applicable certificates, warranty terms, manuals, maintenance instructions and service contacts. Remove unrelated business or personal information from the handover copy after agreeing what the conveyancer needs. Keep the full originals and a copy of what you supplied, including written replies to enquiries. Test that the saved files open without access to a supplier portal.
Frequently asked questions
What documents should I keep for imported home fixtures?
Keep invoices, specifications, model identifiers, installation certificates, applicable building-control records, warranties, manuals and repair history. Link each document to the fixture and its location.
Is a factory test report enough when selling my home?
File it as product evidence and retain installation and completion records separately. Ask your conveyancer which documents the buyer needs; do not describe a factory report as an installation certificate.
What if my window or installation certificate is missing?
Tell your conveyancer whether it is lost or you do not know if it was issued. Agree the duplicate request and next steps, including advice before contacting the council about uncertain approval.
Can I transfer a Chinese factory warranty to the buyer?
Ask the named warranty provider to confirm transfer eligibility, paperwork, charges and remaining cover in writing. Give the terms to your conveyancer before promising the buyer continued protection.