Mandatory Property Inspection: Complete List 2026

The technical survey file is not an administrative formality that gets pulled together the day before signing. It is a contractual document whose absence or expiry deprives the seller or landlord of the clause excluding liability for hidden defects, and opens the door to a price reduction or cancellation. The difficulty lies less in the list of surveys than in two things: knowing which ones apply to your property, and monitoring validity periods that range from six months to unlimited.

What triggers the obligation

No property requires the full set of surveys. Three parameters determine the applicable list:

• The nature of the transaction. A sale and a letting do not call for the same file. Some surveys are common to both, others are specific to one or the other.
• The age of the property and its installations. The year of construction governs the asbestos and lead surveys; the age of the gas and electricity installations governs theirs.
• The location. Termites, dry rot, natural and technological risks depend on prefectoral orders and municipal zoning.

A practical rule follows from this: the list must be built property by property, never copied from a neighbouring property's file.

Surveys required for a sale

The energy performance diagnosis. Valid for ten years. This has become the document with the heaviest consequences, because it no longer merely informs: it now determines whether the property can be let, and its rating has been binding since the reform that gave it legal force.

The energy audit. This is added to the energy performance diagnosis for sales of detached houses and single-owner buildings rated in the lowest categories. The scope is being widened in successive stages: this is a point to check for the current year, as the timetable has been adjusted several times.

Asbestos. Required for properties whose building permit predates July 1997. A negative report does not need to be redone; a positive report requires periodic follow-up.

The lead exposure risk report. For dwellings built before 1949. Its validity depends on the result: unlimited if the report is negative, only one year if it reveals lead levels above the threshold.

Gas and electricity installations. Mandatory as soon as the installation is more than fifteen years old. Valid for three years in the case of a sale.

The risk disclosure statement. Natural, mining, technological, seismic, radon. Its validity period is short — six months — and it is the survey that most often expires between the preliminary contract and the completion deed.

Termites. Only in areas designated by prefectoral order, also with a six-month validity period.

The non-mains sanitation report. Where the property is not connected to the public sewage network, valid for three years.

The measurement survey. The private floor area in a co-ownership falls under the loi Carrez. Its validity is unlimited as long as no works alter the surface area, but an error of more than one-twentieth entitles the buyer to a price reduction.

Surveys required for a letting

The file is shorter, and the validity periods differ — this is the most common source of error among landlords who reuse a sales file.

• The energy performance diagnosis, valid for ten years.
• The lead report, whose validity for lettings is six years if positive, unlimited if negative.
• The gas and electricity installation reports, valid for six years for lettings versus three for sales.
• The risk disclosure statement, always six months.
• The habitable floor area, within the meaning of the loi Boutin, distinct from the Carrez floor area.

The whole set is appended to the lease. This attachment is not merely symbolic: it is what makes the file enforceable, and its absence can be argued in court. The electronic signature of a residential lease offers a concrete advantage here, by sealing the contract and its appendices into a single dated whole, which can be shown not to have been reassembled afterwards.

The tipping point: energy decency

The energy performance diagnosis has changed in nature. It no longer simply informs the buyer or tenant: an insufficient rating purely and simply bans the property from being let.

The ban applies in successive stages, starting with the most energy-hungry dwellings, and tightens over the years to cover further classes. As the timetable has been amended several times, the only reliable approach is to check the rule in force for the year in question rather than rely on a remembered deadline.

Two practical consequences for a landlord. First, a diagnosis close to a class boundary deserves a cross-check before any commitment is made, since a tipping point changes the property's status. Second, a diagnosis carried out under an earlier calculation method may give a different rating from one redone today: the date it was carried out matters as much as the result. This subject is covered in more detail in our article on the standards applicable to the energy performance diagnosis.

What is at risk with an incomplete file

The absence of a mandatory survey is not penalised by a simple fine. It deprives the seller of the benefit of the clause excluding liability for hidden defects for the issue concerned. In practical terms, a buyer who later discovers a defect covered by a missing survey can seek a price reduction, or even have the sale rescinded.

An expired survey has the same effect as a missing one. This is why documents with short validity periods — the risk disclosure statement and the termite report, six months — must be monitored between the signing of the preliminary sale agreement and the completion deed, a period that frequently exceeds that threshold.

Finally, the survey must be carried out by a certified and insured professional. A file drawn up by an uncertified provider is unenforceable, whatever the quality of its content.

Usage scenarios

Sale of a flat in a co-ownership built before 1949. The file combines the Carrez measurement survey, the lead report, the asbestos report, the risk disclosure statement and, depending on the age of the installations, gas and electricity. This is the most comprehensive configuration.

Letting a house built in the 1980s. Asbestos and lead are out of scope. Attention focuses on the energy rating, which determines whether the property can be let, and on the installations if they are more than fifteen years old.

Managing a rental portfolio. Monitoring becomes more a scheduling issue than a one-off compliance matter: each property carries its own deadlines. Guidance for organising this monitoring can be found in our guide to rental property management, and the traceability of document handovers ties in with the inventory of fixtures.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a survey remain valid? This ranges from six months — the risk disclosure statement, termites — to ten years for the energy performance diagnosis, with unlimited validity for a negative asbestos or lead report. The same survey can have two different validity periods depending on whether it is used for a sale or a letting.

Can a sale survey be used for a letting? Not automatically. The validity periods differ, and the measurement basis is not the same — Carrez floor area in a co-ownership for a sale, habitable floor area within the meaning of the loi Boutin for a letting.

What happens if a survey is missing from the deed? The seller loses the benefit of the clause excluding liability for hidden defects for the issue concerned. The buyer can seek a price reduction or have the sale rescinded.

Who can carry out these surveys? A surveyor certified by an accredited body, holding professional liability insurance. A file drawn up by an uncertified provider is unenforceable.

Can the energy rating prevent a letting from going ahead? Yes. The most energy-hungry dwellings are progressively excluded from letting, in stages covering successive classes. As the timetable has changed several times, it must be checked for the current year.

Do surveys need to be redone after works? Works affecting the floor area invalidate the measurement survey. Works affecting insulation or heating warrant a new energy performance diagnosis, which may change the property's rating — in either direction.

Key takeaways

The list of mandatory surveys must be built property by property, based on three parameters: the nature of the transaction, the age of the building and its installations, and the location. No standard list can substitute for this check.

The real operational risk is not forgetting a survey, which is easy to spot, but the expiry of a short-validity document between the preliminary agreement and the deed. And the real strategic risk lies in the energy rating, which has become a condition for operating the property rather than a simple piece of information. Both of these points deserve to be tracked against deadlines, not dealt with at the moment of signing.