Chimney sweeping

An authorised district chimney sweep is a person who is appointed by the competent authority (here: State Administration Office) for a district.

Since 2013, the authorised district chimney sweep has taken over certain sovereign tasks (fireplace inspection, acceptance of a fireplace) in place of the former master district chimney sweep. The difference to before: The authorised district chimney sweep must apply for a sweeping district every seven years. The selection and application process is regulated differently in the individual federal states.

This means for property owners: Since 2013, the authorised district chimney sweep has been responsible for the documentation and evaluation of all information, measured values and test results of your combustion systems and thus continues this area of responsibility of the previous district chimney sweep.

Sovereign tasks are public tasks performed by the state. The state can also delegate the fulfilment of these tasks to a private person.

According to the law, the fireplace inspection and also the inspections may only be carried out by the authorised district chimney sweep. These are sovereign activities.

You can find the contact details of the chimney sweep authorised for your district HERE. You can find out which streets belong to which sweeping district at www.schornsteinfeger-lsa.de.

The fireplace inspection is carried out personally by the authorised district chimney sweep twice during his appointment period (7 years). He inspects all heating systems in the buildings in his district in which sweeping and inspection work is to be carried out and checks the operational and fire safety of the existing systems (fireplaces). The fireplace inspection may be carried out after three years at the earliest and should be carried out no later than 5 years after the last fireplace inspection.

The chimney sweep notice lists all the necessary chimney sweeping work to be carried out on the fireplace(s). The owners must ensure that they commission a chimney sweep to carry out this work in good time and provide evidence of this to the authorised district chimney sweep no later than 14 days after the specified period using a form.

The fireplace notice contains the following information:

• List of the existing fireplaces and the associated flue gas systems (chimney, flue gas pipe, connecting piece)
• the work to be carried out on it
• the period in which the work must be completed
• the applicable legal basis (e.g. KÜO, 1st BImSchV)

The fireplace notice is issued either after a fireplace inspection, after a new inspection or after a significant change to the fireplace.

The fees for conducting the fireplace inspection and issuing the fireplace certificate are based on Appendix 3 to Section 1 (4) of the Chimney Sweeping and Inspection Regulations, which you can view on the website www.gesetze-im-internet.de.

You should always keep the fireplace notice. It contains important information for you as the owner and serves your safety. The fireplace notice describes all the necessary tasks for your fireplace and is intended to ensure that basic fire protection and safety standards are met.

If you are buying a new property, ask the previous owner for the fireplace licence. However, you can also have a copy of the fireplace notice issued by your authorised district chimney sweep for a fee. The fireplace notice is property-related and is transferred to the new owner. The same applies if you sell a property. In this case, hand over the fireplace licence to the new owner.

Note: In the event of a transfer of ownership of a property, the new owner must notify the responsible authorised district chimney sweep in writing or electronically immediately after the transfer of ownership, stating their name and address. Failure to do so may result in a fine.

The number of chimney sweeps required is determined by Appendix 1 to Section 1 (4) of the Sweeping and Inspection Regulations. The frequencies specified there depend, among other things, on the respective type of existing fireplaces and their use.

No, since 2013 you have had the option of commissioning an authorised chimney sweep for measuring, sweeping and cleaning (general sweeping and inspection work). To do this, you and the chimney sweep you commission require the valid chimney sweep licence. This notice informs the chimney sweep which sweeping and inspection work is to be carried out and when.

If you commission another authorised chimney sweep, they must confirm that the work has been carried out professionally and on time on a separate form. This form must be completed and handed over or sent to your authorised district chimney sweep (within 14 days of the day on which the chimney sweeping work was carried out, but no later than 14 days after the expiry of the period specified in your fireplace notice).

In this case, however, it should be noted that the responsibility for meeting the deadlines and submitting the form on time lies with you in your capacity as the owner of the property.

However, you can also commission your authorised district chimney sweep to carry out the sweeping and inspection work. They will then take over the complete supervision for you. He will coordinate the schedule and all the work involved. In this case, however, there is no need to hand over the form to the owner, as the authorised district chimney sweep already receives all the relevant values/information for keeping his sweeping log by carrying out the work himself.

In both cases, the authorised district chimney sweep documents the results in the sweeping logbook, which he must keep in accordance with the Chimney Sweep Trade Act.

You will receive the completed form from the chimney sweep who carried out the sweeping and inspection work on your premises.

In principle, the following applies: If the work specified in the chimney sweep notice is not carried out or is carried out too late, or if evidence of this is provided, the district chimney sweep is obliged to report the incident to the responsible authority (Salzlandkreis). If the chimney sweeping work is carried out too late, this can be penalised with a fine. If the required work is not carried out at all, the competent authority (Salzlandkreis) will impose a second fine for the chimney sweeping work that has not yet been carried out and announce a new deadline. If this is also not carried out, a substitute execution is carried out - i.e. the authority has the chimney sweeping work carried out in enforcement proceedings by carrying out the action. The administrative proceedings will always result in costs and a fine.

In this case, the owner of the flat/house is also obliged to commission a chimney sweep to carry out the chimney sweeping work. As a tenant, however, it is your duty to grant the chimney sweep commissioned by the owner access to your flat and thus to the affected system.

In this case constellation, the chimney sweep carrying out the work is also obliged to report a refusal of access to the responsible authority (Salzlandkreis). This authority will then immediately issue a toleration order, subject to a charge, to allow the authorised chimney sweep to enter the flat/house to carry out the chimney sweeping work. Refusal of access can also be penalised with a fine.