Central heating compliance certificate

cellardoor

Hello all,

Me again with more worries! Ok, so I've received a report back from my solicitor. In it, it has a property information form completed by the owner.

It states that the central heating system was installed in 2004. However it was actually the previous owners that installed it and the current owner does not have the compliance certificate or building regulations completion certificate.

They have been able to supply the original quote, plus what is suppose to be the invoice (quote but re-worded). Also, to make up for this, they've had the boiler serviced by a Corgi engineer and provided a copy of the invoice.

Now then, I asked my Solicitor if the building regulations completion certificate was needed and she said no because the work was carried out after 2005. However, the form that the owner completed suggests it is needed if the work was done after the 1st of April 2002.

Can anyone at all shed some light on this? I found something on the internet that says if a building regulations completion certificate is lost you need to have the local authority come out and inspect the work and issue a new one at a cost of £250.


Cheers if you can help. This is stressful.

Doozergirl

I think it's 2002 but honestly, if it has been recently serviced and given the okay by a CORGI guy then that, in safety terms, is far far better than a five year old certificate for building regs.

Building Control won't be interested and if your solicitor isn't interested either then I would leave it at that. You could ask for indemnity insurance but it's a pretty pointless object that is going to cost the vendor money.

hethmar

Unless you are concerned about the safety, I dont think you need to worry. Who is going to query whether you had a compliance cert that long ago. I dont know when the regs came out for CORGI but for us (solid fuel), the J document was 1 April 2002 I think - I remember 1 April, cos I thought it was a joke when we first got the directions.

silvercar

We bought in 2006 with a boiler that had been installed with no certificate. The vendors supplied a gas safety certificate (the sort you get as a landlord renting the property out). Being the installation certificate was never going to appear and the gas safety certificate shows it was safe at the time of inspection, it seemed unnecessary to worry about it.

cellardoor

Thanks guys. The reason I'm a little worried is, the boiler has been moved to the loft and I don't think the guy that fitted it was corgi registered as there is nothing on his quote to say he is. Plus I googled the company and checked yell.com and it doesn't seem to exist anymore. I also checked the corgi website and he's not on there either. However, I guess if a corgi guy has serviced it I should relax and go with it. I just don't want to have the same problem selling it at a later date.

Someone at work had a combi boiler in the loft. They got British Gas to service it and he condemed it. I don't think they put in adequate ventilation or something so it was pumping out carbon dioxide in to the loft. So I guess if there was a similar problem with this one, the guy servicing it would of picked it up.

It just feels like my solicitor throws this stuff at me and doesn't really explain it. So I feel like I need to be on the ball to make sure nothing gets missed. Do you think it's worth me getting something in writing (E-mail) from the solicitor to advise on this point?


Cheers for your help

m_13

A Corgi engineer has a duty to report and condemn any installation he or she finds that is unsafe. I've been stickered in the past in a rental property!

However, a lot of it is opinion. Corgi finishes on 31st March 2009 and will be replaced on 1st April 2009 by the Gas Safe Register™ run by Capita.

When was it last serviced? Was it definitely in the loft then? It can cost as little as £40 for a gas safety check. Might be worth paying for it yourself and get some peace of mind.

We bought a property with gas central heating but the boiler had no vent to outside. Had we turned it on we'd have had a house full of carbon dioxide. It's always better to be safe than sorry. My brother-in-law believes that as their gas boiler is in an outside building it doesn't need servicing at all as the emissions wouldn't reach them. :rolleyes:

cellardoor

Thanks m_13. It was serviced in Januaray (as soon as they realised they hadn't got the form it looks like). It was definately in the loft then. It's been in the loft since we started looking at it and I presume since 2004 when the quote was made out for.

So I guess I'm happy that it's safe. I'm just not happy that they didn't follow the correct procedures. I know there is nothing they can do about it as it was the previous owners that fit it but I don't want to be lumbered with a problem when I go to sell it. Do you think it's worth me calling the building authority or would that just be opening a can of worms?

It just seems like the form says it needs to have it as if its a legal requirement but when they don't produce it, you turn a blind eye. My solicitor hasn't offered any assurances that this should be ok. That's why I'm wondering whether to at least bring it up in an E-mail with the solicitor so she will have to write back and say whether it's ok or not. What do you think?


Cheers for your help!

Doozergirl

I've told you what I think as have three others. I would not worry about it as long as it has a recent inspection to show it is safe.

By the time you come to sell the thing will be ageing anyway. Building Regulations are concerned primarily with safety. If you've had it inspected by someone that was qualified to fit it and they think it's fine then it is pointless doing anything about it.

If you are that concerned then an indemnity certificate will protect you against building control taking action. That is not going going to happen because
a) they haven't got the resource for that sort of thing
b) It's been certified by a CORGI engineer as safe - they are in theory better qualified to tell you that than a building control. What can building control possibly tell you to do to a safe boiler that is simply without an initial certificate?

When you come to sell, you won't even discuss the boiler because you didn't install it.

joannejellybean

I have had a small garage extention that hasn't been signed off yet as building control have now realised that the boiler has been moved and want a regularisation certificate.(because this was never included in the original planning app) The boiler has been serviced and I have a Gas Safe Certificate but still I have to apply for retrospective permission in order for the whole job to be signed off. When I sell can I apply for imdemnity insurance instead of obtaining a completion certificate?

00ec25

(I am not for a minute questioning the value of a safety check in a rented property, but how about this.)

My father has lived in the same house for 46 years. During that time he has had the boiler replaced 3 times, each time by British Gas.

Every year he has it serviced by British Gas, (Dad is not an MSE!) and every few years the latest engineer condemns the installation. We point out that BG did the original work, the engineer looks sheepish, mumbles "regulations change", "what was safe then ain't now" and offers a quote "£4,000 for a new boiler installed to the latest spec"

my Dad continues breathing every day whilst BG exploits the latest rules to find a new reason to sell boilers
regulations :rolleyes:

gasbag1602

00ec25 wrote: »

(I am not for a minute questioning the value of a safety check in a rented property, but how about this.)

My father has lived in the same house for 46 years. During that time he has had the boiler replaced 3 times, each time by British Gas.

Every year he has it serviced by British Gas, (Dad is not an MSE!) and every few years the latest engineer condemns the installation. We point out that BG did the original work, the engineer looks sheepish, mumbles "regulations change", "what was safe then ain't now" and offers a quote "£4,000 for a new boiler installed to the latest spec"

my Dad continues breathing every day whilst BG exploits the latest rules to find a new reason to sell boilers
regulations :rolleyes:

If a boiler is unsafe and for what ever reasons can not be repaired then rightly so British gas condemed it! If the regulations have changed since the boiler was installed you dont have to buy a new boiler. I suspect you have half a story my friend but i would get facts right before slandering a large company on BG without evidence......