A boiler replacement that was never notified to building control in England can be put on record through a regularisation application under regulation 18 of the Building Regulations 2010. The owner applies in writing to the building control authority, which may then issue a regularisation certificate. Regularisation only covers unauthorised work carried out on or after 11 November 1985. This page explains how boiler work becomes notifiable in the first place, how to check whether yours was notified, what a regularisation certificate is worth, and how the gas safety duties on a let property sit alongside it.
Is replacing a boiler notifiable building work in England?
Replacing a boiler in England is building work that needs building regulations approval. Regulation 12 of the Building Regulations 2010 requires a building notice or full plans before the work starts. The exception sits in Schedule 3: if the work is listed there and carried out by a person named in column 2, that person can self-certify instead.
Self-certification is the competent person scheme route, and it covers most domestic boiler swaps. A competent person scheme is an approved body whose members certify their own work as meeting the standards, so no separate application to the council is made. GOV.UK sets out both routes for heating appliance work, whatever the fuel.
A boiler was never notified if neither route was used. No building notice went in, and no self-certification followed. The work still had to meet the requirements — only the paper trail is missing.
How can you tell whether your boiler was ever notified to building control?
Start with the paperwork handed over after the boiler was installed. Regulation 20 of the Building Regulations 2010 requires the self-certifying person to give the occupier a copy of the certificate within 30 days of completion, and to notify the local authority. GOV.UK guidance on competent person schemes says the certificate should reach you within eight weeks, and that it comes up in solicitors' searches when a property is sold.
HSE says the installer should leave three things behind after a gas boiler installation:
- a completed installation record
- a commissioning certificate, such as a Benchmark checklist
- a user instruction manual for the appliance
None of those three is a building regulations certificate on its own. If you hold no compliance certificate and the council's building control team has no record of the boiler, treat the work as unnotified. Our guide to the building regulations compliance certificate after a new boiler explains what the document looks like.
What is a regularisation application, and who can make it?
Regularisation is the route in regulation 18 of the Building Regulations 2010 for unauthorised building work in England. It applies where it appears to the building control authority that work was carried out on or after 11 November 1985 without approval. Older work falls outside the regulation.
The owner is the applicant. The application goes in writing to the building control authority and must include:
- a statement that the application is made under regulation 18
- a plan showing any extra work needed so the boiler installation meets the relevant requirements
GOV.UK's guidance on applying notes that the authority can inspect the work and can require covered-up elements to be opened up. Councils charge a fee for a regularisation application, so ask your council's building control team what theirs is. Opening up any part of the appliance, its casing or the flue is work for a Gas Safe registered engineer, not something you do yourself.
What does a regularisation certificate prove once the council issues one?
A regularisation certificate is evidence, but not conclusive evidence, that the requirements named in it have been met. Regulation 18 also says the authority may issue the certificate where no further work is needed. There is no entitlement to one.
That wording matters when a buyer's solicitor reviews the file. The certificate answers the question about the unnotified boiler, but it does not close it beyond argument. Keep it with the installation record and the commissioning certificate so the whole history sits together.
Refusal is possible. GOV.UK confirms a right of appeal where a local authority in England refuses to issue a completion certificate or a regularisation certificate. Ask the authority what further work it considers necessary before you decide how to proceed.
Can the council require an unnotified boiler installation to be put right?
GOV.UK states that the building control body can require faulty work to be corrected at the owner's expense. Where the Building Regulations have not been met, you may have to correct the work or pay a fine. The duty sits with the owner, not with whoever fitted the boiler years ago.
Section 36 of the Building Act 1984, as enacted, barred a local authority notice about offending work more than 12 months after completion. Section 39 of the Building Safety Act 2022, as enacted, replaces that period with 10 years. Commencement and later amendments affect which version applies, so check the in-force text of section 36 on legislation.gov.uk rather than relying on a figure quoted elsewhere.
Section 36 also leaves the right to apply for an injunction untouched, whether that is the local authority or another party. Time passing is therefore not a reason to skip the question. If the installation is sound, a regularisation application is the route that puts it on record.
Does a landlord gas safety record show the boiler was notified to building control?
A gas safety record does not show that a boiler was notified to building control. The two documents come from different law and answer different questions. A gas safety record deals with the safety of appliances and flues on the day of the check. A building regulations certificate deals with whether the installation work was notified and compliant.
Under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 as amended, a landlord in England must have a gas safety check carried out every 12 months by a Gas Safe registered engineer. HSE sets out the handling of the record: keep it for two years, give a copy to existing tenants within 28 days, and give one to new tenants before they move in.
An unnotified boiler does not suspend that duty, and a current record does not cure the missing notification. Both need sorting separately. Our guide on what the law actually requires of landlords in England goes through the gas side in detail.
What can you arrange now if your boiler was never notified?
Four things are within your control when a boiler turns out to be unnotified in England:
- Ask your council's building control team about a regularisation application under regulation 18, and what fee and information they want.
- Book a Gas Safe registered engineer to inspect the appliance, the flue and the gas pipework — anything behind the casing is their work, not yours.
- Ask a solicitor how the missing certificate should be handled in a sale or a tenancy file.
- Arrange a free home survey and a written fixed price if the inspection shows the boiler needs replacing.
Checks you can safely make yourself are limited to four: the boiler pressure on the gauge or display, the thermostat and programmer settings, the reset button, and bleeding radiators. Everything else on a gas appliance belongs to a Gas Safe registered engineer. If you are selling, our guide on boiler records and gas safety certificates when selling a house covers what buyers usually ask for.
Where the property is let and the gas paperwork needs bringing up to date alongside the building control question, you can book a landlord gas safety certificate (CP12) with us.
Sources
- The Building Regulations 2010, regulation 18 (unauthorised building work) — legislation.gov.uk
- The Building Regulations 2010, regulation 12 — legislation.gov.uk
- The Building Regulations 2010, regulation 20 — legislation.gov.uk
- Building regulations approval: when you need approval — GOV.UK
- Building regulations approval: use a competent person scheme — GOV.UK
- Building regulations approval: how to apply — GOV.UK
- Building regulations approval: appeals — GOV.UK
- Building Act 1984, section 36 — legislation.gov.uk
- Building Safety Act 2022, section 39 — legislation.gov.uk
- Domestic gas: frequently asked questions — HSE
- Landlords' responsibility for gas safety — HSE