What expires, and when: keeping track of dates.
Almost every rented home carries a small number of records with dates attached. Which ones, how often, and who must be given a copy differ by country and often by state or province. What is the same everywhere is that nothing tells you when one is about to lapse.
Find out what actually applies where your property is.
Do not work from what a landlord in another country told you, and do not assume a rule you read about applies to your state or province. Start from the official regulator or tenancy authority for the exact place the property is, and read the page yourself. Write down the date you read it, because these pages change.
Three questions per record.
For each record, you need three things and nothing more complicated: what is it called here, how often does it have to be renewed, and does anyone have to be given a copy. The third is the one people miss. Having a certificate and giving it to your tenant are different obligations, and the second is the one that is hard to show later.
A record of the document is not a record of the check.
Saving a certificate shows what you hold. It does not show that an inspection happened, that the person who did it was qualified, or that whatever they found was acted on. Keep the certificate, the invoice and any follow-up work together, so the story is complete rather than just filed.
Put the renewal date where you will trip over it.
A date in a folder is a date nobody sees. Work out the renewal when you save the record, not when you need it, and set a reminder far enough ahead that you can actually book somebody — weeks, not days. Engineers and inspectors are busy in the same months every year.
Keep a record that you sent it.
Where a copy has to go to your tenant, keep evidence of sending at the time: what you sent, which file it was, who you sent it to and when. An email thread can be argued about years later. A record made on the day, ideally with the other person confirming it arrived, is harder to dispute — though confirming receipt is not the same as legal service, and it never means the tenant has agreed to anything.
Keep them after they expire.
An expired certificate is still evidence that the check happened. Several jurisdictions require you to keep records for a period after they lapse, and a buyer’s solicitor may ask for work going back years. Keep the old ones alongside the current one rather than replacing them.
General organisational guidance. Which records apply, how often they renew, who must receive a copy and how long they must be kept are set by the law where the property is and differ by country, state and province. Check the official regulator for your jurisdiction. Checked 11 September 2026.
Keep the record without thinking about it.
Housetold does this job in the background: the photos stay dated, the renewal dates work themselves out, and the whole thing still makes sense a year later. It is coming to iOS and Android soon, and invited tenants use it free.
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