A guide for UK sweep businesses
Chimney Sweep Certificate Template — and What It Must Include
A certificate of chimney sweeping is the record a homeowner's insurer, a landlord or a buyer may ask to see — so what's on it matters more than how it looks. Below: the twelve things a sweeping certificate should record, an annotated sample of the certificate We Sweep produces for every flue, and where the trade bodies' own rules and warning notices come in.
It's a template in the useful sense: a checklist to build your own certificate from, or to check the one you use now. There's no blank form to download, and we explain why.
In short: a chimney sweeping certificate should show who swept the chimney (your business, contact details and trade-body membership or registration number), the customer and the property, the appliance, the fuel and which flue — one certificate per flue — how it was swept, what you found (condition, smoke draw test, carbon monoxide alarm, ventilation and any defects), your recommendations and when the next sweep is due, the date, a certificate number and a signature.
What a chimney sweeping certificate should include
A sweeping certificate isn't a form set by law. What goes on it comes from two places: the trade bodies' rules for their members — HETAS's, for example, require a sweeping certificate for every visit that sweeps a solid-fuel chimney, with any faults or concerns recorded and a copy for the customer — and what insurers, landlords and buyers need it to prove. These twelve fields cover both.
- 1
Your business details
Your business name, address and a phone number or email, so the customer, their insurer or the next sweep can reach you.
- 2
Your trade-body membership or registration number
If you're HETAS-registered or a member of the Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps, NACS or APICS, put your number on. It lets an insurer or a buyer check you — and some insurance conditions name the trade bodies whose members must do the sweeping (see who asks for a certificate).
- 3
The customer and the property
The customer's name and the address of the property you swept. For a landlord, that's the rented property, not their home address.
- 4
The appliance and the fuel
Open fire, stove, boiler or range cooker; the make and model if you can see them; and what's burned — wood, smokeless fuel, house coal, oil. The fuel decides how often the chimney needs sweeping.
- 5
Which flue — one certificate per flue
Two fireplaces mean two flues and two certificates, each labelled so they can't be mixed up: “Lounge stove”, “Bedroom open fire”. NACS's code of conduct requires its members to issue a certificate for every chimney they clean, and an insurer asking about one fireplace needs the certificate for that flue.
- 6
How it was swept
The method — brushes, a rotary power sweep — and whether you swept from the hearth or the roof. HETAS's sweeping code doesn't accept vacuum-only or chemical-only cleaning as sweeping: neither can be relied on to shift mortar, loose bricks or a bird's nest.
- 7
Condition and what you found
Liner, brickwork, pot and cowl, and anything you removed — a blockage, a nest, how much soot came out. HETAS's code expects a visual inspection before and after sweeping, and a damaged or dislodged cowl to be pointed out to the customer.
- 8
The smoke draw test
Record the result. HETAS's code asks for a smoke draw test in every case, and other tests — a pressure test, a spillage test or a draught interference test — where the installation or the way it's used calls for them.
- 9
Carbon monoxide alarm and ventilation
Is there a CO alarm, does it work, is it in date? Is the air supply adequate and clear? Both are on the list of checks HETAS's code takes from Approved Document J of the Building Regulations, along with heat damage to nearby combustible material and the installation's notice plate.
- 10
Defects and recommendations
Anything wrong, and what should be done about it, in words the customer can act on. HETAS's code says any faults or concerns must be recorded. If the flue isn't safe to use, see warning notices below.
- 11
The date — and when the next sweep is due
The date of the sweep, and your advice on when to sweep again. HETAS's code asks sweeps to advise each customer how often to sweep for their installation, fuel and pattern of use — and an insurance condition may set its own dates.
- 12
A certificate number and signatures
A unique number so the certificate can be traced, the name of whoever did the work, and a signature. HETAS's scheme rules require the customer to be given the certificate within 10 working days of the visit; NACS members issue theirs on the day.
An annotated sample certificate
This is the certificate We Sweep produces for each flue, filled in with made-up details. The numbers match the twelve fields above.
CHIMNEY SWEEP CERTIFICATE
Certificate No: CERT-2026-4F7A2C 12
Lounge stoveFlue 1 of 25
Issued By: 1
Example Chimney Services
Unit 1, Sample Yard, Anytown AB1 2CD
Email: office@example.com
HETAS registration no. 00000 2
Customer: 3
Alex Sample
12 Sample Road, Anytown AB1 2CE
Service Details
Service Performed:
Chimney sweep
Date of Service:11
14 October 2026
Appliance:4
Stove
Fuel Type:4
Wood
Outcome:PASS10
Next sweep due:April 202711
Recommendations: 10
Burning wood: sweep at least twice a year, the second time after the main heating season.
Technician notes:
Customer advised to burn only dry, seasoned wood.
Technician: 12
Sam Example
Customer signature: 12
Service Photos
Before
After
About this sample
- Optional rows — make and model, flue height and bends, ventilation and soot removed — print only when the technician fills them in.
- Field 2: your trade-body numbers are set once in Business Settings — up to four, printed one line each under your business details.
- Field 11: the technician picks the month on the certificate form. It's filled in from the fuel — 6 months on for wood, house coal or multi-fuel, 12 for smokeless, oil, gas or pellets — and can be changed or cleared.
- Field 12: the technician is named on the certificate, and the customer signs on the technician's phone.
- Your logo prints top right if you've added one, and the job's before and after photos are added to the certificate automatically.
- On a failed flue the outcome reads FAIL in red, with the reason and the remedial actions printed underneath.
Who asks for a sweeping certificate — and why
Home insurers
A home insurance policy can make chimney maintenance a condition of cover. One specialist thatch policy's conditions, for example, require every chimney serving a solid-fuel stove, boiler or open fire to be professionally cleaned along its full length at least twice in each period of insurance — once between July and October, once between January and March — by a member of NACS, the Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps or APICS, and say proof of inspections may be asked for after a fire. Policies vary, which is why the Guild tells homeowners to check how often theirs needs the chimney swept. Either way, the certificate is the proof: dated, for that flue, from a sweep whose membership can be checked.
Landlords
In England, the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires landlords of most homes let on a tenancy to keep the installations for space heating in repair and proper working order. And since 1 October 2022, a landlord in England must have a carbon monoxide alarm in any room used as living accommodation that contains a fixed combustion appliance other than a gas cooker. Neither law mentions a sweeping certificate — but a dated certificate for each flue, with the CO alarm check on it, is the landlord's record that the chimney has been looked after.
Buying and selling a home
HETAS's moving-home advice lists the chimney sweeping certificate among the papers to hand over, so the new owners know when the chimney was last swept. It isn't the same as a HETAS Certificate of Compliance, which shows a stove or flue installation met the Building Regulations — that comes from a HETAS-registered installer, not from the sweep.
When a flue fails: warning notices
Sometimes the honest answer is that a chimney shouldn't be used until it's put right. The trade bodies have their own procedures for that, and they go further than a certificate:
- HETAS: registered sweeps assess and document concerns under the HETAS Unsafe Situations Procedure (HUSP), leave a copy with the customer and issue a HETAS warning label where required. HUSP sorts installations into Assessed Risk Low, Assessed Risk High and Immediately Dangerous; an immediately dangerous one gets a warning label telling the customer not to use the appliance.
- NACS: members issue a NACS Warning Notice instead of the certificate when a chimney is defective, on the day of the work.
What We Sweep does when a flue fails
The technician marks the flue as failed and can't save its certificate without the reason and the recommended remedial actions. That certificate prints FAIL in red with both, and the customer signs it on the technician's phone. When the job is completed, the customer is emailed “Inspection Outcome: Action Required”, asking them not to use the appliance until the issues have been resolved by a qualified professional, with the reason and the remedial actions in full. On a job with more than one flue, any flue that passed still gets its own certificate.
What it doesn't do
A failed-flue certificate in We Sweep is a record of the failure, not a formal warning notice. It doesn't classify the risk the way HUSP does, and there's no warning label to print. If your trade body requires a warning notice or a label, issue it the way your code says — the certificate goes alongside it.
Your trade body's certificate, your own — or both
The trade bodies don't all work the same way:
- NACS members must issue the NACS Certificate of Chimney Sweeping for every chimney they clean — on paper or through the NACS-approved digital version only. It's copyright and can't be copied.
- HETAS asks registered sweeps for “an appropriate certificate of sweeping” that meets its code, given to the customer within 10 working days, with records kept for six years.
- The Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps has its own sweeping certificate for members, in duplicate or triplicate, with room for two appliances and the industry standard printed on the back.
If your trade body requires its own certificate, keep issuing it. If you're independent, or your body lets you use your own, a certificate produced for each flue on the job covers the twelve fields above. In We Sweep you can also upload your own report or certificate as a PDF instead of filling in the inspection form: it's kept with the job in your admin panel, and We Sweep still produces a certificate — outcome, customer's signature and photos — for the customer's portal.
Why there's no blank certificate to download
A blank certificate can be filled in for a sweep that never happened — and insurers, landlords and buyers rely on the real ones. Trade-body certificates are protected too: NACS's is copyright. So instead of a fill-in form, use the twelve fields above to design your own certificate or check the one you have, use your trade body's, or let your software produce one for each flue on the job.
Certificates done on the job, one per flue
In the We Sweep field app, the technician fills in the certificate for each flue as part of the job — appliance, fuel, flue, method, findings, smoke draw test, CO alarm, outcome and when the next sweep is due. The customer signs on the technician's phone, and the PDF is produced with the job's before and after photos and your trade-body numbers. It's filed against the job and in the customer's own portal, and the job-completed email links them to it. No carbon paper, no rewriting the address three times.
Certificates are included. You pay We Sweep nothing; your customers pay a £1.95 online booking fee, which you can subsidise, and standard card processing of 1.5% + 20p applies to card payments. And because the job is on record, a customer who booked through We Sweep can be sent a reminder about 11 months after their sweep, so next year's job comes back to you.
See how it works on the chimney sweep certificate software page and the certificates and customer portal feature — or apply to join We Sweep.
Frequently asked questions
Is a chimney sweeping certificate a legal requirement?
No law makes a homeowner hold one or sets out its wording. The requirement comes from elsewhere: HETAS requires its registered sweeps to give a sweeping certificate for every visit that sweeps a solid-fuel chimney, NACS requires one for every chimney its members clean, and an insurance policy can make sweeping a condition of cover.
Is a sweeping certificate the same as a HETAS certificate?
No. A HETAS Certificate of Compliance is for an installation — a stove or flue fitted by a HETAS-registered installer — and shows it met the Building Regulations. A sweeping certificate records a sweep, and HETAS-registered sweeps can't certify installation work. A buyer may ask for both.
Do I need a separate certificate for each chimney?
Yes — one per flue. NACS requires its members to issue a certificate for every chimney they clean, and an insurer or buyer asking about one fireplace needs the certificate for that flue. We Sweep produces one certificate per flue, each labelled so they can't be mixed up.
How often should a chimney be swept?
It depends on the fuel and how much the appliance is used. HETAS advises at least twice a year for wood and at least once a year for smokeless fuel. NACS and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service say quarterly while wood is being burned, and the fire service says twice a year for bituminous coal or peat. An insurance policy can set its own intervals, so put your advice on the certificate.
Can I download a blank chimney sweep certificate?
Not from us. A blank certificate can be filled in for a sweep that never happened, and insurers, landlords and buyers rely on the real ones. Use the twelve fields on this page to design your own, use your trade body's, or let your software produce one for each flue on the job.
What should I do if a flue fails inspection?
Record the failure, the reason and what needs doing; tell the customer not to use the appliance until it's put right; and follow your trade body's procedure — the HETAS Unsafe Situations Procedure, or a NACS Warning Notice — including any warning label. In We Sweep, a failed flue's certificate prints FAIL with the reason and the remedial actions, and the customer is emailed both when the job is completed.
Can I keep using my trade body's certificate with We Sweep?
Yes — and if your code requires it, you should. You can upload your own report or certificate as a PDF against the job instead of filling in We Sweep's inspection form. It's kept with the job in your admin panel, and We Sweep still produces a certificate with the outcome, the customer's signature and the photos for the customer's portal.
Sources
Checked 19 October 2026. This page is general guidance for sweep businesses, not legal advice.
- HETAS Chimney Sweeping Code — November 2024, ref. HCSCode — sections 3 to 5
- HETAS Chimney Sweep and Service Technician Scheme: Conditions of Registration — August 2025, ref. HSSS_CR — sections 2.3 and 10
- HETAS Unsafe Situations Procedure (HUSP)
- HETAS: Moving home?
- HETAS: Why do I need my chimney swept?
- NACS Code of Conduct
- NACS: Chimney safety advice
- Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps: Safety tips
- Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps: New sweeping certificates — December 2018
- Scottish Fire and Rescue Service: Chimney fire safety
- Pen Underwriting: Thatch Owners home insurance application form — November 2020 — the chimney condition
- Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11
- The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (Amendment) Regulations 2022