Building Regulations certificate for a new boiler

The short answer

When a new gas boiler is installed, the work has to be notified to Building Control. You don’t have to do anything yourself: a Gas Safe registered installer notifies it through the Gas Safe Register, which records the installation and sends a Building Regulations Compliance Certificate to the homeowner by post. It confirms the work was done by a registered business and notified as the law requires.

If you are having a boiler fitted, ask your installer to confirm they will notify the work. If you had one fitted and no certificate arrived, start with the installer. The rest of this guide covers each of these in more detail.

Why boiler installations are notifiable

The Building Regulations cover work that affects safety and energy use in a home, and a gas boiler affects both. It burns gas, it vents fumes through a flue, and it is one of the biggest energy users in the house. Notification is how there is a record that the installation was done by someone qualified and meets the rules, including the controls required under Boiler Plus.

This applies whether you are replacing a boiler like for like, moving it, or changing type. A boiler replacement, a boiler relocation and a conversion are all notifiable.

It is also one more reason to check who is doing the work. Only a Gas Safe registered business can notify a gas boiler installation through the Gas Safe Register, and only registered engineers may legally work on gas in your home. If someone offers to fit a boiler “without the paperwork”, that is a sign they are not registered, and the installation will have no record behind it.

How notification works

1. 1Your Gas Safe registered installer fits and commissions the boiler and completes the Benchmark checklist.
2. 2The installer notifies the installation to the Gas Safe Register, with details of the home and the boiler.
3. 3The Gas Safe Register informs the local authority’s Building Control on the installer’s behalf.
4. 4The Gas Safe Register posts the Building Regulations Compliance Certificate to the homeowner.

Because Gas Safe registered businesses can self-certify this work, you don’t need a separate Building Control application or inspection for a standard boiler installation. That is one of the practical reasons to use a registered installer.

Why it matters when you sell

When you sell a home, the buyer’s solicitor asks about work done to the property, and a boiler installation is one of the things they want evidence for. The compliance certificate shows the boiler was fitted by a registered business and notified correctly. Having it ready avoids questions and delays at a stage when nobody wants either.

It helps to gather the boiler’s paperwork as soon as you decide to sell, rather than waiting for the solicitor to ask. If anything is missing, you then have time to contact the installer or the Gas Safe Register without holding up the sale.

It is useful in other ways too, for example if you remortgage, or if you let the property and want a record that the boiler was installed properly alongside the annual gas safety record. See landlord boiler replacement and our page on landlord gas safety certificates.

What the certificate is, and isn’t

The compliance certificate is a record. It identifies the property, the work that was notified and the registered business that did it. It shows the installation was notified to Building Control in the way the law expects, which is what a buyer’s solicitor is looking for.

It isn’t a safety inspection of the boiler today, and it isn’t a warranty. The boiler’s ongoing safety is checked at each annual service, and the warranty depends on registration and servicing. Keep all three in mind: a boiler with a certificate but no service for several years still needs attention. See boiler servicing.

If you’re buying a home with a newer boiler

When you buy, the boiler’s paperwork tells you a lot about how it has been looked after. If the boiler has been replaced since the seller moved in, it is reasonable to ask for:

• The Building Regulations Compliance Certificate for the installation.
• The Benchmark checklist, with the service record pages filled in.
• Any warranty documents, and whether the warranty can pass to a new owner.
• Records of annual services and any repairs.

Your solicitor will ask about it as part of the purchase. If something is missing, it is easier to sort out before you complete than after you move in.

What to do if you never got one

Certificates go missing for ordinary reasons. It was posted to a previous owner, it was filed with other post and forgotten, or the address had a small error. Occasionally the installation wasn’t notified at all.

1. 1Look through the paperwork you got at the time: the manual pack, the Benchmark checklist and any envelopes from the Gas Safe Register.
2. 2Contact the installer who fitted the boiler. Ask them to confirm the installation was notified, and when.
3. 3Contact the Gas Safe Register. They can help you check whether the installation was notified and with getting a replacement copy.

The paperwork to keep together

Keep the compliance certificate in one place with the rest of the boiler’s records. You will need them for warranty claims, services and selling.

• Building Regulations Compliance Certificate, posted to you by the Gas Safe Register.
• Benchmark commissioning checklist, completed and signed on installation day, with the service record pages filled in each year.
• Warranty registration confirmation from the manufacturer.
• Your written quote and invoice, which show who did the work and what was included.

When we fit a boiler, we notify Building Control through the Gas Safe Register and register the warranty in your name, as part of every combi boiler installation and replacement. If you have any doubts about the paperwork for a boiler we fitted, just ask us.