Home maintenance records: what to keep for the day you sell your house, and what you can let go

They help with the paperwork of a sale more than the price. None of the official sources behind this article puts a figure on what records add to a sale price, and neither do we. What records do is let you answer disclosure questions accurately, support guarantees, and back up tax and insurance claims.

A buyer can read the age of a boiler from its data plate, but how it was looked after only shows on paper. That paper carries legal weight. In its explanatory notes to the TA6 Property Information Form, the Law Society of England and Wales says buyers can rely on the information a seller gives, and that a buyer may be able to claim compensation after completion if the information is misleading. Sellers are expected to have a reasonable basis for their answers. Records are that basis.

Guarantees are the third reason. The same Law Society notes warn buyers that claims under a guarantee or warranty can often only be made if the item has been properly and regularly maintained, and that this is often difficult to prove. A service history is how you prove it.

Keep dated proof of anything a buyer cannot check by looking: service reports for heating and gas appliances, receipts and dates for major replacements, guarantees and warranties, permits and completion certificates for building, electrical and gas work, and a simple dated log of recurring maintenance. Add photos of work that is now hidden.

• Heating and gas service reports. The Law Society says sellers should give their solicitor details of the heating installation, supporting documents and the most recent inspection report. Maintainly’s task library sets both the furnace service and the boiler service at every 12 months, so one report a year is the record to expect.
• Receipts and dates for major replacements. Roof, boiler or furnace, water heater, windows, consumer unit or electrical panel. A receipt fixes the date and the installer, and it may also matter for tax (see below).
• Guarantees and warranties. The Law Society’s list of documents a seller may need includes any guarantees and warranties, and it suggests asking the installer whether a warranty transfers to a new owner.
• Permits, consents and certificates. Planning permissions, building control consents and competent person certificates in England and Wales; permits and sign-offs elsewhere. California’s statutory disclosure form asks sellers directly about alterations or repairs made without necessary permits.
• Electrical reports. An Electrical Installation Condition Report if you have one. The library’s EICR task uses a 5-year interval.
• A dated maintenance log. The recurring jobs: the roof inspection (every six months and after major storms in the library), chimney sweep, dryer vent, and the septic tank pump-out (every 3 years by default, with an accepted range of 3 to 5 years).
• Photos of hidden work. Pipes, wiring, insulation and drainage before they were covered. Nobody can inspect them later.

It depends on where you sell. England and Wales use the Law Society’s TA6 form, Queensland has a mandatory disclosure statement, New South Wales attaches prescribed documents to the contract, and California uses a statutory disclosure statement. In British Columbia and Ontario the written statement is optional, but the duty to disclose latent defects is not.

The table summarises what each official source says. It is a summary, not a checklist for your sale. Forms and rules change, and other states and provinces have their own, so ask your solicitor, conveyancer, attorney or agent which documents apply to you.

Receipts for improvements matter most. The IRS and GOV.UK both say improvement costs can count when working out a gain on a home, while ordinary repairs and decorating do not. The Australian Taxation Office asks owners to keep all records for the home. A tax adviser can tell you what applies to your sale.

In the US, IRS Publication 523, Selling Your Home says improvements add to the value of your home, prolong its useful life or adapt it to new uses, and their cost is added to your basis. Its examples include a new roof and central air conditioning. Painting, fixing leaks and filling holes or cracks are repairs and do not count. The IRS says to keep records that document the adjusted basis, in general until 3 years after the due date of the return for the year you sold.

In the UK, GOV.UK’s guidance on working out your gain says you can deduct the costs of improvement works such as an extension, and that normal maintenance costs such as decorating do not count.

In Australia, the Australian Taxation Office’s guide to keeping CGT records says that although the family home is usually exempt, you should try to keep all records relating to it in case it stops being fully exempt. The ATO adds that reconstructing records later could be difficult, and that penalties can apply if records are not kept for at least 5 years after the relevant CGT event.

In Canada, the Canada Revenue Agency’s principal residence page says the sale must be reported on Schedule 3 and Form T2091(IND), and that the exemption is only allowed if you report the disposition. Whether any tax is due on your own home depends on your circumstances in every one of these countries, so take the question to an accountant or tax adviser.

They can. The US insurance regulators’ association, the NAIC, says a homeowners policy is not a maintenance contract and does not pay for items that wear out. The UK Financial Ombudsman Service says policies often exclude gradual damage. Dated service records and photos are evidence of how a system was kept. Your policy wording decides.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Consumer’s Guide to Home Insurance says the owner is responsible for upkeep, such as repairing a roof when it begins to leak or cleaning a chimney flue. It also advises keeping receipts with a home inventory for all repairs and new items, as proof if you file a claim.

In the UK, the Financial Ombudsman Service’s page on gradual damage says it looks at whether the customer could reasonably have known about the damage, and that it wants to see expert reports and photos. It also says it is for the insurer to show that an exclusion applies.

Neither source says a service record guarantees a paid claim, and this article does not say so either. Cover differs between policies and countries. Read the exclusions in your own policy and ask your insurer or broker what evidence they expect.

Low-value consumables: light bulbs, cleaning products, garden sundries. They say nothing about the age or condition of a major system. Be more careful with repair and decorating receipts. GOV.UK and the IRS say those costs do not count towards a gain, but the Australian Taxation Office lists maintenance receipts among records to keep.

A useful test for any piece of paper: does it show how old something is, who worked on it, or that it was maintained? If it does none of those for a system that is expensive to replace, it is clutter, and clutter is what buries the documents you need.

Tax is the exception to a hard clear-out. The ATO’s list of records you may need includes receipts for the cost of maintenance, repairs and modifications. Before you throw out a box of repair invoices, ask whoever prepares your tax return.

Record each job on the day it happens, in one place, with the date, who did it and what it cost. Photograph the invoice before the technician leaves. Store certificates and warranties with their expiry dates. Once a year, export a copy so the history survives a lost phone or a change of app.

Maintainly is built for this routine. Completed tasks are logged with their date, the document vault holds certificates and warranties and alerts you before they expire, and it works offline with no account. The free plan covers one home with up to 10 pieces of equipment, 20 tasks and 3 vault documents. Maintainly Pro is a one-time $19.99 purchase that removes those limits and adds full history, cost insights, a Home Report PDF and CSV export. It is iPhone only.

1. Capture it at the time. Photograph the invoice or certificate while the contractor is still there. A record that depends on remembering later rarely gets made.
2. Keep one place. A folder per system works. So does an app that ties each record to the equipment and the task, so “when was the boiler last serviced” is a lookup.
3. Write down the cost with the date. It turns a log into a spending history, which helps with planning what maintenance costs per year.
4. Photograph every data plate once. Brand, model and serial number for the boiler or furnace, water heater and major appliances.
5. Note expiry dates. Warranties, guarantees and certificates all run out. Put the date where you will see it.
6. Export a copy once a year and keep it with the house documents.