---
id: KB-CN-013
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/construction/lifts-and-equipment-inherited-with-the-building
idioma: en
categoria: sector-construccion
subcategoria: ascensores
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CN-003, KB-CN-006]
citadoPor: [KB-LE-017]
---

# Lifts and equipment inherited with the building

_Installed once, they stay with the building for forty years, changing owner and maintenance firm along the way._

**Responde a:** lift documentation · changing lift maintenance company · lifting equipment inspection · we do not have the lift paperwork

A lift, an automatic door or a lifting platform have something unusual about them: they are installed in weeks and then live for decades, with periodic servicing, a maintenance contract and, every so often, an inspection by an outside body. Over that time owners, managers and maintenance firms change — and the documentation falls by the wayside at each handover.

## What is produced and who holds it

| Document | Who produces it | Where it usually sits |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Installation documentation | The installer | With the firm that fitted it, if it still exists |
| Equipment registration | Filed at installation | With whoever handled the filing |
| Maintenance reports | The current maintainer | In their system, not yours |
| Periodic inspection records | The inspecting body | Given to the owner, who sometimes does not keep them |
| Repairs and replacements | Whoever carried them out | Spread across several firms over the years |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The third row bites when changing provider: **maintenance reports live in the maintainer's system, and on termination they are not always handed over**. The new firm starts its record from zero, and from then on there is no way to show the equipment was maintained through the intervening years. Requesting the full history is part of terminating the contract, not anyone's goodwill, and it must be asked for before signing with the next one.

## How a file per unit is built

1. **One per unit, identified by its number** — It is the only thing that does not change; the site's name does.
2. **With the installation and registration inside** — Even if twenty years old: everything else rests on them.
3. **Reports and inspection records as they arrive** — Every visit leaves paper; filing it then takes a minute.
4. **And inspection due dates warning early** — Arranging an inspection takes weeks, not days.

> [!WARNING]
> What surprises buyers and tenants: **keeping this current is the owner's responsibility, not the maintenance firm's**. The maintainer does what is contracted and gives notice; whoever answers for a missing inspection or an overdue unit is whoever is registered as the owner. That is why in a sale the equipment documentation is requested before signing, alongside the building's.

## When old paperwork is missing

**En corto**

- Manufacturers and installers usually keep technical documentation by unit number.
- The inspecting body keeps its own records and can issue a copy.
- And whatever does not turn up is declared as such: an explained absence is not silence.

> [!NOTE]
> Which inspections are compulsory, how often and who may carry them out depend on the type of equipment and on the rules of your region and country. **Your maintenance firm or adviser confirms that**; the point here is that what gets produced is not lost at the next handover.

**Can I change maintainer without losing the history?**

Yes, if you ask before terminating. Afterwards it is far harder.

**What if the installer no longer exists?**

Search by unit number: the manufacturer and the inspection body usually have a trace.

**Does this apply to automatic doors or platforms?**

The criterion is the same: unit, file, number and due dates.

## Ejemplos

**A building changes maintenance firm and the new one starts with no history.**

- Requests the last few years of reports before terminating the previous contract

→ The unit keeps its full record and inspections stop starting from scratch.

**A unit is inherited without its documentation.**

- Requests what is missing at contract start

→ The request happens while there is still a contact.

**Mandatory inspections pile up.**

- Warns about each due date in advance

→ The calendar spreads out.

**The unit's history sits with the previous maintainer.**

- Requests and stores it on taking over

→ The starting point is known.

**An incident repeats and nobody sees the pattern.**

- Checks the unit's history

→ The cause is tackled rather than the symptom.

**The contract ends and the history must be handed over.**

- Keeps the complete, exportable history

→ The handover takes hours.