No hetas certificate

[loobielu]

So we're nearing exchange on our house and our buyers solicitor has asked for a copy of our hetas certificate for our woodburning stove. We don't have one but would an indemnity policy cover this do you think or is this going to jeopardise our sale ? Thanks x

[Snowflake65]

Perfectly normal for an indemnity policy to cover off lack of certification, or you can someone in to inspect / test / certify.

[spydie]

I'd recommend getting someone in to check it.... there was no cert for the woodburner when we purchased our house, we had it checked out and the register plate was screwed to wooden batons which were about 2 inches away from the flue.... also the output of the burner exceeded the maximum for being in an unvented room.

We had the whole lot removed and replaced!

[MrBennOfFestiveRoad]

We had this on house that we bought last year, vendors purchased indemnity. It worried me a bit but not enough to jeopardise the sale. We had the stove checked before using it and was told that it's really common not to have a Hetas certificate, although it's an old house, so not sure if that makes a difference

[Gladiatorsready]

I don't know if this could possibly affect your indemnity insurance but usually you can call the council building control department and see if a hetas certificate was logged against your property/what the reference number is, you can then call hetas and ask for a copy. Hetas is known as a 'competent person' and therefore need to contact the Council when work is carried out under its umbrella. As said previously though not sure if by asking the Council and if no record can be found then it may make indemnity insurance impossible to get - so could be a risk to contact the Council.

[Gladiatorsready]

Sorry just read re... the above is only if you know that the work was carried out by a hetas registered person and have just lost the certificate.

[JT05]

We were in the exact same situation as Spydie when we bought our current house. We also had the whole stove and flue removed and replaced.
What really annoyed me was when I asked the vendor about the chimney being swept, she gave an evasive answer which implied it had been swept in previous years. Not true!
Our HETAS engineer said that the certificates should be mandatory, as wrongly fitted stoves are as dangerous as gas appliances.