What documents to keep, and how to build a record that holds up.
Guides for owners, professionals and Organisations - what documents to keep for a home, a car or a watch, who should issue them and how to share them.
What documents to keep: the ones a reader will actually accept.
Most of a record was issued by someone else - a scheme, a council, a garage, a maker - and the Vault weights each document by its issuer.
Home documents checklist
- Building Control completion certificate for every extension or structural change
- Gas Safe, EIC/EICR, FENSA and HETAS certificates, or who to ask for a copy
Car documents to keep
- V5C beside the bill of sale, VIN and the MOT history
- Service invoices with mileage, in date order; dated photographs
Watch and jewellery documents
- Warranty card, box and papers; serial and reference numbers
- Service receipts from the maker or an authorised workshop; insurance valuation
How to share under scope
- Pick a scope - agent-buyer, insurer-surveyor or solicitor - and an expiry
- Scopes hide documents, not history; opens are logged
Watches and jewellery are the next class, then Vehicles, launching with registering partners. More guides follow as each class opens.
Create your first VaultWhat documents to keep depends on who will read them.
A buyer's solicitor, an underwriter, a dealer and a lender each accept different evidence. Keep the document the next reader will ask for, issued by the person who did the work.
Homes
Building Control completion certificates, scheme certificates and a dated works history are what a buyer's solicitor asks for. The property history report page lists what a home's Vault holds, and the Homes pilot is live.
Cars and motorcycles
V5C, VIN, MOT history and service invoices with mileage, in date order. The classic car history page covers the history file a dealer or buyer expects. Vehicles launch after watches and jewellery.
Watches and jewellery
Warranty card, box and papers, serial and reference numbers, maker or authorised-workshop service receipts and an insurance valuation. See watch provenance; watches and jewellery are the next class to launch.
Every document you add is hashed on upload and given an integrity receipt; you can run a document integrity check on any sealed file. Terms are defined in the glossary.
Register once. Every event you issue carries your weight.
You register by reference to a scheme membership you already hold and accept the issuer terms. Events you confirm are sealed and weighted 0.9.
Becoming a registered professional
Gas Safe, NICEIC or NAPIT, FENSA, HETAS, RICS, CLC or SRA, and sector equivalents as each class opens; your number is checked with the scheme.
Read: becoming a registered professionalIssuing a verified event
Add the event to the timeline, attach the certificate and confirm it. It is hashed on upload with an integrity receipt; corrections become new versions.
How issuing works in ProRegistered professional · NICEIC number checked · sealed
Building Control · scheme certificate ingested
Owner-provided · awaiting confirmation
Read what the owner lets you read, in the form your process needs.
Reading a Vault under scope
What a scoped link shows and hides, how long it lasts, and how to check a document's integrity receipt.
How scopes workThe Pro workflows
The Sale-Ready Passport, the Claim Evidence Report, the Provenance Passport, the lender-valuer scope and the Business Vault, and the Collateral Report when it leaves development.
About ProThe Vault API
Scoped reads, registered-professional writes, webhooks and the open record schema. Early access by request.
Vault API overviewReading the Vault Score.
The Vault Score is a verification score - whether the documents exist, who issued them and that they are unaltered since issue; never a valuation, a credit input or a judgement of the work.
It runs from 0 to 100 with a band. Read the band, then the timeline: a low score on a full history usually means no professional has confirmed the owner's uploads yet.
- Building Control1.0
- Registered professional0.9
- Firm0.7
- Owner-provided0.4
What documents to keep, answered.
What documents should I keep for my home?
The Building Control completion certificate for every extension or structural change; Gas Safe, EIC/EICR, FENSA and HETAS certificates; surveys, warranties and dated photographs. Keep whatever was issued by someone other than you: the Vault weights each document by its issuer, so scheme certificates count most.
Which documents raise the Vault Score most?
Those issued by a scheme or a registered professional. The published weights are Building Control 1.0, registered professional 0.9, firm 0.7 and owner-provided 0.4; owner-only evidence is capped at 65. The Vault Score is a verification score, never a valuation, a credit input or a judgement of the work. How the verification score works.
What if I have lost a certificate?
Ask the issuer for a copy: the council's Building Control team for a completion certificate, the registered installer or their scheme for Gas Safe, electrical, FENSA or HETAS certificates. Ingesting scheme certificates by lookup or data agreement is launching, which will reduce how much you need to hold yourself.
Do I need to keep paper originals once a document is in my Vault?
Keep them. The Vault seals a copy: the file is hashed on upload and given an integrity receipt, and the original upload is kept with corrections stored as new versions. The sealed copy proves the document has not changed since upload; it does not replace the issuer's original.
Where do I find the documents a buyer's solicitor asks for?
Mostly with the people who did the work: Building Control, the installer's scheme, the surveyor. The Property page lists what a home's Vault holds; the Help Center explains how a solicitor scope shows the timeline and the documents you choose.
If you own it, put it in your Vault.
Request a Vault ID for your first asset and add the documents these guides tell you to keep.