What approval and paperwork does a new boiler need?

Boiler replacement is the most common piece of notifiable work in a British house and the paperwork is the part most often missing. It is also the paperwork that a buyer's solicitor, a warranty claim and an insurance claim all reach for, so it is worth ten minutes of chasing at the time rather than an afternoon of archaeology later.

Safety

Step by step

1. Check the engineer on the Gas Safe Register before booking.Search the register by name, business or registration number, and check the card on the day — the back lists the specific appliance types they are qualified for. Boilers, cookers and fires are separate categories.
2. Expect the work to be notified to building control.Boiler installation and replacement is controlled work throughout the UK. In England and Wales a registered engineer notifies it through their competent person scheme rather than you applying to the council; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own certification routes.
3. Get the building regulations compliance certificate.Issued by the scheme, usually within a few weeks, confirming the work complies. This is the document that answers the sale enquiry. If it has not arrived, chase the installer and then the scheme directly.
4. Get the engineer's record of the work.Their own documentation of what was installed, tested and left safe, including flue and ventilation checks and any gas safety issues found on other appliances.
5. Get the commissioning checklist completed in the manual.Most manufacturers require a commissioning checklist filled in and signed at installation, and most warranties are conditional on it. An unsigned checklist is the commonest reason a warranty claim fails.
6. Register the warranty and diarise the annual service.Manufacturer warranties usually require registration within a period of installation and an annual service by a registered engineer to stay valid. Both are easy to miss and expensive to lose.
7. Check whether anything else needed doing.A system flush or chemical clean, a magnetic filter, and correct sizing are the things that determine whether the boiler lasts. Ask what was done and get it written on the invoice.
8. Check the flue position and any planning angle.Planning permission is not normally required for a boiler flue on an ordinary house, but flues on listed buildings and in conservation areas can need consent, and flue position relative to boundaries, windows and openings is a regulated matter regardless.

Tips

• Carbon monoxide alarms are cheap and are the only thing that will tell you about a problem you cannot see or smell. Fit one in any room with a fuel-burning appliance.
• If the installer quotes an unusually low price for a like-for-like swap, ask specifically whether a system clean, a filter and the building regulations notification are included.
• Keep the manual with the certificates. Service engineers, insurers and buyers all want it, and replacements are surprisingly hard to obtain for older models.

Common mistakes

• Not chasing the compliance certificate — It arrives weeks later or not at all, and by the time anyone asks for it the installer may have moved on. Diarise it for a month after installation.
• Assuming a Gas Safe card covers all gas work — Registration is by appliance category. Someone qualified on cookers is not automatically qualified on boilers, and the back of the card is where that is written.

Questions people ask