Restricted Zones and Buried Work Record Checklist

Write each entry as a plain statement of what must not be done and where, with a short note of who said so and when.

A future reader needs to know the constraint and its source, not the reasoning behind it, which they cannot evaluate anyway.

Add entries during the works as constraints arise, rather than trying to assemble the whole record at handover from memory.

Most of these constraints are mentioned once, in passing, at the moment the relevant work is being done.

Record who told you each constraint and in what capacity, since a future professional will want to know where the statement came from.

An unattributed prohibition is either ignored or treated as absolute, and neither is right.

Your record repeats what you were told; it is not a determination, and anybody acting on it should confirm the position with a suitably qualified professional.

Keep your own inferences out of the record and write only what you were told, even where you think you understand the reason.

An owner's inference written as a fact is the most dangerous kind of entry in a document like this.

Keep everything in one document rather than spread across drawings, photographs and correspondence, since the point is that somebody finds it.

This record exists precisely because the detailed information is scattered and nobody reads all of it.

Where you do not know whether a constraint applies, write that down as an open question rather than leaving the entry out.

A stated uncertainty prompts somebody to check; an omission tells them there is nothing to check.

Ask whether any part of the ground must not be excavated, and where its boundary runs relative to something you can still see.

A restriction behind a retaining arrangement is only meaningful if its extent can be located on the finished site.

Ask whether any part of the ground has been reinforced or improved, and whether disturbing it would affect what it is holding.

The published material describes arrangements where the compacted fill itself is the retaining element, which makes the ground behind it part of the structure.

Ask where foundations, piles or underpinning sit, and ask for that to be recorded on a drawing rather than described in a conversation.

These positions are needed by anybody digging near the building and are almost never available to a later owner.

Ask whether anything extends into the ground beyond the building itself, including anything that may reach beneath a neighbouring property.

The library notes that some ground anchors are installed for a construction stage and some remain, and which is present is a matter of record.

Anything extending beneath a neighbouring property may involve arrangements with the adjoining owner; ask a suitably qualified professional and, if needed, your own legal adviser.

Ask what services are buried, on what routes, and at what stage a record of them was made, rather than assuming one exists.

A buried network is invisible, and a record of it is the only practical way to know what connects where.

Ask whether any membrane or barrier sits beneath a deck, a drive or a garden surface, and where its edges are.

A membrane under a surface is defeated by anything driven through it, and its presence is invisible from above.

Ask whether anything is embedded in a floor, where it runs, and whether a record of its position was made before it was covered.

The published material treats recording an embedded floor arrangement as a design question rather than a handover formality.

Ask whether any floor or slab must not be drilled at all, and record the answer with the area it applies to.

A floor that cannot be drilled and has no record of why is a constraint the next owner inherits blind.

Where a surface must not be drilled, nothing should be fixed into it until a suitably qualified professional has been asked about that specific position.

Ask whether any wall or ceiling lining is separated from the structure behind it, and what that means for hanging anything on it.

A fixing that reaches through a separated lining connects two things the arrangement was designed to keep apart.

Ask where services have been chased into walls, and whether a record of those routes exists beyond the memory of who cut them.

Chases are cut in a narrow window shared by everybody who needs something buried, and they are rarely recorded.

Ask which elements must not be cut, notched or penetrated, and whether that applies to the whole element or to particular zones.

Restrictions on penetrating structure are frequently specific rather than absolute, and the distinction matters to a later trade.

Ask where any continuous layer runs behind a finish that a fixing would pass through, and which surfaces that affects.

Continuous layers are defeated at a single point, and nobody fixing a shelf has any way of knowing one is there.

Ask whether any surface, deck or structure has a restriction on what may be placed or driven on it, and record it in plain words.

Limits like these are set by the design and are invisible to anybody parking a vehicle or adding a planter.

Never infer what a surface can carry from how it looks or from what has been on it before; ask a suitably qualified professional.

Ask whether anything on a roof or terrace must not be covered, weighted or built over, including outlets and drainage points.

The published material describes a terrace laid as a continuous bonded field over its outlets as having been designed to be opened up destructively.

Record the external ground level against the building as built, and note that raising it later can affect arrangements you cannot see.

Garden work raises external levels gradually over years, and the original relationship is the thing worth writing down.

Note any opening, vent or gap that must stay clear, and where it is, since these are frequently blocked by later work in good faith.

Openings that look like gaps invite being filled, particularly during decoration or insulation work.

Ask whether any chamber or access point risks being paved over or built across by later work, and mark those positions.

Chambers built over by a later extension or buried under a raised patio turn a routine visit into an excavation.

List every cover, chamber and access point on the property, with a note of where it is and what it serves.

A buried vessel under a lawn is easy to lose entirely, and the list is the only thing that keeps it findable.

Record where the site's drainage leaves the property, where that point physically is, and anything you were told about what it discharges into.

The connection point governs what the rest of the site's drainage can do, and it is often the least documented item.

Record where every isolation or shut-off point is, including any outside the building, in terms somebody could follow under pressure.

These are needed at exactly the moments when nobody has time to search for them.

Note anything that has to be reached periodically, and whether reaching it needs equipment rather than simply lifting a cover.

A component needing access for equipment rather than for viewing is a different maintenance proposition entirely.

Photograph each of these positions before the surface around them is finished, with enough context to locate them afterwards.

The photograph taken while the surrounding ground is open is worth more than any description written later.

Describe each position by measuring from things that will still exist in years, such as a building corner or an opening, rather than a fence or a plant.

References to features that are later removed make an entry unusable without making it look wrong.

Give two measurements from different directions where you can, so a position can be located rather than merely approximated.

A single measurement describes a line rather than a point, which is rarely enough to act on.

Include a simple sketch or a marked-up plan, since a drawing communicates a position far faster than a paragraph does.

A rough sketch that is clear beats an accurate description that has to be read twice.

Name rooms and areas the same way throughout the record, and use names a future occupant would recognise rather than construction ones.

Construction-stage room names disappear the moment somebody moves in.

Date each entry, since a constraint recorded early in the works may have been superseded by something done later.

Dates let a reader see which entries were written before a later change and might need checking.

Write in plain language without technical terms, since the reader may be a homeowner, a gardener or a general tradesperson.

A record only a specialist can read will not be read by the person who most needs it.

Put the most serious constraints on the first page, so somebody who reads only one page reads the ones that matter.

Assume partial reading, because that is what actually happens with handover documents.

Say who should be asked before working in each restricted area, naming the kind of professional rather than an individual.

A reader who knows what kind of professional to consult can act; one told only to be careful cannot.

Every entry should direct the reader to a suitably qualified professional before any work in the area, rather than implying the record is sufficient.

Say where the detailed information lives, such as as-built drawings or service records, so the summary points onwards rather than replacing them.

This document is an index to constraints, not a substitute for the technical records behind them.

Keep it with the property papers and tell anyone else in the household where it is, rather than filing it where only you would look.

A record nobody else can find provides none of the benefit it was written for.

Decide now that it goes to a future occupant or buyer, and keep it in a form that can be handed over without rewriting.

Documents written for one reader rarely survive a change of ownership unless they were written to be handed on.

Add an entry after any later work that buries, covers or fixes something, however small the job seemed at the time.

Later works are the ones with no handover process at all, so nothing is recorded unless you do it.

Strike out entries that no longer apply rather than deleting them, and note beside each one what changed, when, and who told you it had.

A struck-out entry tells a reader the constraint was considered, which a deleted one does not.

Read the record through before any external work, including garden work, since that is where most of these constraints are broken.

Ordinary landscaping is the commonest way a buried constraint is discovered, usually by breaking it.

Give the relevant entries to anybody coming to work on the property before they start rather than after they have asked.

A tradesperson told beforehand will plan around a constraint; one told afterwards has already worked around it.

Passing on the record does not discharge anybody's own obligation to establish what is present before working; it supplements that rather than replacing it.

Read the record through occasionally as a stranger would, and correct any description that no longer locates what it refers to on the property as it now is.

Properties change, and a description that was clear at handover can become ambiguous after a few alterations.