Boiler - Building Regulation Compliance Certificate

Yeziying

Dear all, we are looking for some advice please. 

We did some extension work back in 2018 and installed new boiler & hob at the time. We had the EICR, Gas Safety Certificate & Building Control Completion Certificate. We also forwarded EICR & Gas Safety Certificate to local council building control. They confirmed in return everything was received and no further action was required. We thought we had done everything properly.

We are selling the house now and the buyer's solicitor is asking Building Regulation Compliance Certificate for the boiler installation. Subsequently we found out that the engineer should have registered the boiler with Gas Safe in order to receive the Compliance Certificate. Gas Safe Register didn't find any record on our house so the engineer didn't register in 2018. Gas Safe told us that the engineer can still register the 2018 job now and it only takes a few minutes.

We contacted the engineer. His ID card is expired now. He is worried that backdating 2018 job with his ID expired would cause him some trouble. On top, the solicitor found that the Gas Safety Certificate was dated 2019 instead of 2018 - probably error or typo. The council building control didn't spot this error at the time either. But now what we can do? please kindly advise. thanks!!!

tacpot12

I don't see how registering the installation with an expired ID can cause him any problems. His ID wasn't expired when the work was done. It mightbe more difficult for him to register it now, but he owes you, so you should try to get him to do this.

I expect that the Gas Safe Register can do it for him, if he hasn't got the necessary login details any more, providing you have evidence that the work was completed when he was registered. 

hannahcolobus

I’m a gas engineer and you really can’t be registering stuff three years late- GasSafe quite rightly get suspicious of this. I don’t want to sound overly harsh, but a huge part of this job is making sure you are on time and up to date with paperwork. Submitting something three years late is pretty poor form, I can see why your gas engineer doesn’t want to do this. 

Can you not get an indemnity policy? I had to do this on a property i was selling a few years back (I didn’t fit the boiler, but whoever did years before also ‘forgot’ to register it) and the solicitor just said an indemnity would cover it. It’s only to cover the chance of enforcement from the council anyway. You could suggest this plus a gas check for your buyers peace of mind?  

canaldumidi

I can't see what purpose it would serve anyway.

In terms of enforcement action by the council a) they've already said all is in order and b) they only have 12 months from installation to enforce.

In terms of boiler reliability, neither a 3 year old compliance cert, nor a 2 or 3 year old  gas certificate will guarantee its condition today.

You could offer the buyer an indemnity insurance against a) above for £100+. Totally pointless except to satisfy the buyer, or more usefully, suggest the buyer gets a current inspection done, just as he would normally get a survey done on the poperty if he's concerned.

Chandler85

Everyone knows that a piece of paper saying the boiler was installed properly years and years ago makes solicitors feel warm and fuzzy inside...

I've had a boiler serviced yearly with full history of it being checked and kept in warranty, but still had to stump out £15 for the replacement certificate to keep the solicitor happy, totally pointless.  Any certificate is only good for the time it is installed.

hannahcolobus

Chandler85 said:

Everyone knows that a piece of paper saying the boiler was installed properly years and years ago makes solicitors feel warm and fuzzy inside...

I've had a boiler serviced yearly with full history of it being checked and kept in warranty, but still had to stump out £15 for the replacement certificate to keep the solicitor happy, totally pointless.  Any certificate is only good for the time it is installed.

The issue isn’t that the certificate has been lost, it’s that the installation itself was never registered with GasSafe so therefore no proof it was done by someone registered under the competent persons scheme. 

You or I would probably be satisfied with a thorough gas check and paperwork showing it’s safe, but a solicitor understandably isn’t going to want to take the responsibility for an install never having been registered. It’s only the same as when an extension has been done without any knowledge or sign off from the council.