Ask the seller for the building regulations compliance certificate for the boiler, with the installation date and the name of the competent person scheme on it. If no certificate exists, ask whether the seller, as the current owner, will apply to the local authority for a regularisation certificate under regulation 18 of the Building Regulations 2010 before exchange. You cannot make that application yourself while the house still belongs to someone else. This guide sets out the documents a boiler installation should have generated in England, what each one proves, and what to do when the file is thin.
What does a missing building regulations certificate for a boiler mean in England?
A missing building regulations compliance certificate means the boiler installation was never recorded through a competent person scheme. Replacing or fitting a boiler is notifiable work under the Building Regulations 2010 in England. An installer registered with such a scheme may self-certify that the work complies, instead of applying for approval first.
The scheme operator notifies the local authority where that is needed. It then issues a certificate as evidence of compliance, within eight weeks of the work being completed. Government guidance for homeowners says to contact the scheme operator if nothing arrives within 30 days, and that these papers matter when the home is sold.
The certificate normally shows up in the searches your conveyancer runs. Its absence is a question to put to the seller, not a reason to assume the boiler is unsafe. For what the document contains, see the building regulations compliance certificate after a new boiler.
Which boiler documents should you ask the seller for before exchange?
Ask for every document the installation should have produced, not only the compliance certificate. The list below follows the notification route in England and the handover and warranty conditions set by boiler manufacturers.
- The building regulations compliance certificate for the boiler, showing the installation date and the name of the competent person scheme.
- A separate compliance certificate for an unvented hot water cylinder, if the home has one.
- The Benchmark checklist from the installation manual, completed and signed when the boiler was commissioned.
- Benchmark service records for each year since installation, which the manual says must be filled in after every service.
- Proof that the warranty was registered with the manufacturer, and the conditions that keep it valid.
- Any gas safety record, warning notice or advice notice held for the property.
Warranty terms tie cover to conditions rather than to the house. Vaillant, for example, requires registration within 30 days of installation and a service every 12 months by a Gas Safe registered engineer, meaning an engineer listed on the Gas Safe Register. Ask which conditions apply to the appliance in front of you. If the home is currently let, the seller should also hold gas safety records; more on that in buying a tenanted property with no gas safety record.
Who can apply for a regularisation certificate for an unnotified boiler, you or the seller?
The owner applies, so before exchange that is the seller. Regulation 18 of the Building Regulations 2010 lets the owner of unauthorised building work apply in writing to the local authority for a regularisation certificate. It covers work carried out on or after 11 November 1985 in England. The application describes the work and includes a plan where that is practicable.
The authority may require the work to be laid open for inspection, and may take tests and samples. A regularisation certificate is evidence, but not conclusive evidence, that the stated requirements have been met. Section 36 of the Building Act 1984 separately allows a local authority to serve notice requiring work that contravenes the regulations to be removed or altered. If that notice is not complied with within 28 days, the authority may carry out the work itself and recover its costs.
You cannot apply for regularisation on a boiler in a house you do not yet own. Regulation 18 of the Building Regulations 2010 gives that right to the owner. Put the question to the seller through your conveyancer before exchange, and keep the answer in writing. Step by step: the regularisation route in England.
Building regulations compliance certificate or gas safety record: which one proves what?
Buyers often treat the two documents as interchangeable. They answer different questions about the same boiler, and one does not replace the other.
| Criterion | Building regulations compliance certificate | Gas safety record (CP12) |
|---|---|---|
| What it confirms | That the installation was notified and certified as meeting the Building Regulations 2010 in England | That the gas appliances and flues checked were found safe on the day of the check |
| Who issues it | The competent person scheme operator, after the registered installer notifies the work | The Gas Safe registered engineer who carried out the check |
| How often it appears | Once, within eight weeks of the installation being completed | After each gas safety check, repeated every 12 months in a let property |
| Who it concerns | Any notifiable boiler installation, whether the home is owner-occupied or let | Landlords under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 as amended, not owner-occupiers |
| What it tells a buyer | Whether the installation went through the proper route and was recorded | Whether an engineer has inspected the appliances recently |
An owner-occupier selling to you has no legal duty to hand over a gas safety record. Read a missing record as a gap in information, not as a breach. A missing compliance certificate is the document that follows the property and shows up in searches.
Does the EPC prove the boiler was installed legally?
No. An Energy Performance Certificate is a visual assessment of the elements that determine energy efficiency, including the heat source. Government guidance for buyers states that it says nothing about the condition of those elements and assumes they all work correctly.
An EPC is valid for 10 years. The boiler entry you read in the listing may therefore describe an appliance fitted years before your viewing, by someone whose details nobody recorded. A good EPC line about an efficient condensing boiler is not a compliance certificate and not a survey. Keep the two enquiries separate when you brief your conveyancer.
What if the boiler was fitted by someone who was not Gas Safe registered?
Treat the appliance as unverified and have it inspected by a Gas Safe registered engineer before you commit. Regulation 3(1) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 as amended says no person shall carry out work on a gas fitting unless competent to do so. Employers and self-employed engineers must belong to a class of persons approved by HSE, which in practice means the Gas Safe Register.
HSE advises that gas appliances included in a sale are checked before the purchase goes through. Registered engineers carry an ID card showing which appliances they are allowed to work on, so ask to see it. Ask the seller as well whether a Danger Do Not Use label was ever attached; HSE uses that label for appliances classed as at risk or immediately dangerous.
Work on gas pipework, the flue or anything inside the boiler casing belongs to a Gas Safe registered engineer. It is never something for you or the seller to check during a viewing.
Does the unvented hot water cylinder need its own certificate too?
Yes, an unvented hot water cylinder is notifiable work in its own right. Unvented hot water storage falls under Part G3 of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations 2010 in England, and a system with no vent pipe may only be installed by a person competent to do it. Competent person schemes cover that work separately from boilers. A Megaflo or similar cylinder should therefore come with its own compliance certificate, not just the boiler one.
Manufacturer manuals also set out annual maintenance of the cylinder by a competent person, usually at the same visit as the boiler service, and link the guarantee to it. Ask for those service records alongside the certificate. On who may carry out the work, see who can install an unvented hot water cylinder in England.
If you are buying the property to let, you can arrange a landlord gas safety certificate (CP12) once the keys are yours and before a tenant moves in.
Sources
- GOV.UK — Building regulations approval: use a competent person scheme
- GOV.UK/MHCLG — Building work, replacements and repairs to your home (PDF)
- legislation.gov.uk — Building Regulations 2010, regulation 18 (regularisation)
- legislation.gov.uk — Building Act 1984, section 36
- legislation.gov.uk — Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, regulation 3
- HSE — Gas safety: home owners
- GOV.UK — How to buy a home
- Vaillant — Domestic boiler guarantee terms and conditions
- Ideal Heating — Benchmark
- HSE — Gas safety check records and what to keep