Combi Boiler Installation Certificate

[hagie79]

Hi There,

I have a couple of questions regarding Boiler Installation Certificate, and I would be really gratetful for some help.

I am just about to exchange on a flat, that has had a new Baxi Condensing Combi Boiler installed back in March. My solicitor has asked for the Installation Certificate.

The vendor just provided a Gas Safety Cert. When I asked him about the Installation Certificate, he said the boiler fitter only gave him this. The vendor has been pretty clueless throught the whole process.

I think he has got someone who is not registered to install the boiler and just got a gas safety cert this would explain why he has the gas cert and not the installation cert.

But is it possible for someone that is not registered to fit a boiler?

I have asked him to contact the fitter and provide the cert. Could I speak to the local authority to see if the installation certificate is with them?

Any advice would be great.

Thanks,

James

 

[dcawkwell]

When a gas fitter installs a boiler he should register it via the gas safe register and the property owner should receive a certificate saying that it was installed correctly.

Some cowboys won't bother and will just write out a landlord gas safety certificate for the installation.

Might be a good way of renegotiating the price. It's a buyers market.

You could chase it up with the gas safe register and kick up a big fuss.
That would put the gas fitter in hot water too.

 

[Hufty]

AFAIUI the whole point of the whole waste-of-paper-chase is that Local Authority Building Control get notified of the installation of a heat producing appliance as required by Building Regulations. The plumber can notify via GSR for £3 in which case a certificate is produced as a byproduct, or can go direct to the LA for about £100, in which case no certificate is produced. It's the notification that actually matters not the certificate.

If your ask your solicitor to do something known as a "Local Authority Search" on the property, it should come up on that, given that it's a record held by the local authority about that property.

Also, you can ring up the LABC office (or at least you can here) and after the initial shock has died down that someone has requested the information they will usually confirm that a notification has been made, especially if you provide nearly all the information and they just have to say "yes" or "no".

Don't let the sale fall through on this if you want the property. If you're worried about the safety of the installation, pay a GSR plumber you trust to look over the installation and issue a separate safety certificate to you (not to the vendor), in the same way you would get your own survey done.

 

[hagie79]

Cool, thanks for the info, so a Gas Safety Cert will tell me that the boiler has been installed corrected?

 

[The Baker]

The Gas Safe Register Certificate can only show the person who registered the boiler is on the Register.

 

[Boilerman2]

But the "installer" may have used someone else's reg details
so I would say the Vendors Safety Cert is worth Jack S**t, I would get your own done for peace of mind

 

[hagie79]

I am just looking at a copy of the Gas Safety Cert.

Should I be worried that even tho it took place in March this year, the cert has the old corgi logo. Surely this shold have the gas safe logo, if its a cert from March 11?

I think I will be having an interesting chat to the vendor tomorrow.

 

[Dan Robinson]

The logo on the cert is as irrelevant as the cert itself.

I print my own. The logo on it is just a JPEG inserted into my database program. used to be CORGI, now GS - but CORGI are still flogging merchandise.

 

[ChrisR]

It's not a "Certificate", it's just a record made on a piece of paper. The logo means absolutely nothing. Corgi are still in business flogging pads, though they have zero relevance to anything.

The Installation "certificate" also means almost nothing. It means the taxman can track the installer, and Gas Safe Register can use the fact of its existence if they want to go and look at one of the guy's installations.
An installer might not register the installation because :
A) he's broken one of the rules ( which is probably going to make no difference whatsoever but gives an inspector something to whine about) or
B) he forgot
C) he considers the whole process a waste of time

All it says on it, is that the installer was registered. Whoopy doo.

Solicitors and their pen-pushing office staff get excited about the things because they know no better.
After a year, it's not possible to register an installation through GSR. The local authorities do not have Gas Safe Registered employees so they can't check an installation. Mine had never been asked.
Get a Homeowner's Gas Safety Record done - it's exactly the same as the Landlord's. There's no hard and fast list of checks.
Get the fellah who does it to state that the installation appears to conform to current building regulations. That's basically about thermostatic rad valves , and maybe flue position with regard to nuisance (not a gas safety issue).
I've done about 20 of them, I just charge a little extra for the BR letter.
I state that it's not possible to retrospectively "sign off" an installation and that the lack of the piece of paper does not make the installation unsafe, and the Building Control department of the Local Authority expresses no concern about the matter. Weasel words but it's always worked so far.

 

[hagie79]

Ok, I have just checked, I do have a Landlord/Homeowner Gas Safety Record, which was been completed by a Corgi Registered plumber

 

[Agile]

The RGIs have only explained what should have occured if the boiler was really installed by an RGI.

The reality is that many boilers are installed by non-registered people and the owner then calls an RGI to issue a Landlords Gas Safety Certificate.

That is meant to get round having a non-reg doing the installation.

The deficiency in your case is that the boiler has not been registered with Building Control as far as we know. Thats a finable offence! Probably only finable to the owner at the time.

To correct the situation the boiler would normally have to be taken off the wall and reinstalled. Then it can be notified to BC. Thats usually charged at about £180.

The installation record is on a document called a Benchmark Certificate which is meant to be filled in by the installer! It also identifies the installer as an RGI.

You have not mentioned the boiler warrantee, that can be for up to five years and is quite valuable! Thats usually based on having a completed Benchmark Certificate AND a service every year. It also has to be registered as installed and notified to the manufacturer!

If its an unreliable boiler its going to be expensive to get it repaired if it could have been covered by the warrantee!

Tony Glazier

 

[hagie79]

Thank for the replies everyone.

Just chatted to my solicitor. We are going to ask for £250 off the purchase price to cover reinstallation and another gas safety record. I will arrange for the work to be done, when I move in.

Thanks again

 

[Agile]

The solicitor of couse will probably be charging an extra £350 for discussing/arranging all this!

You cannot win!

Tony