Bought a house without a building compliance certificate (boiler)

[Kilicat]

We've recently purchased a property and had a gas engineer over to check the boiler. In the process of this we have realised that we have no building compliance certificate which is issued after a new boiler is installed. Today's engineer has identified a few minor issues with the boiler that we can rectify (e.g. one of the pipes has been leaking since it was installed) but more concerningly is the fact that we probably won't be able to sell the property without recommissioning the boiler at great expense.

I am wondering if this is something that we would have expected our conveyancer to check or if we should have known to check this ourselves? The conveyancer didn't mention that there was no certificate. If so, is there anything we can do with regards to the solicitors? Would like a better understanding of the expectations of a conveyancer's role before complaining.

Have you checked that there was no certificate issued? If one was, you can get a duplicate from www.gassaferegister.co.uk/gas-safety/gas-safety-certificates-records/building-regulations-certificate/order-replacement-building-regulations-certificate/

If there is no certificate, you should be able to get a retrospective one. If there are no issues, this can cost as little as £200.

Was your conveyancer aware that a new boiler had been fitted?

@prh47bridge thanks - we've checked the gas safe register and it's definitely not. We had mentioned that they'd done work on the house and to check all was OK in that respect but hadn't specifically mentioned a gas boiler - I was under the impression that if a house has a boiler then it needs one of those certificates to show that a gas safe engineer has fitted it? I was wondering if this was something that should have been routinely checked?

The requirement for a certificate was introduced on 1st April 2005. If the original boiler was installed before then, there would have been no need for a certificate.

@prh47bridge Thanks - it was definitely installed by the previous occupants in the last 5-7 years or so
. I have the booklet that contains the certificate that should have been filled in when the boiler was installed but it is blank!

We didn’t have a compliance certificate when we sold because the engineer didn’t register it. We just paid for a thorough inspection and used the certificate. Everyone was happy with this

Thanks @ballsdeep , that's reassuring.

The point I was making is that, if the house was built prior to April 2005, the initial installation wouldn't have needed a certificate so, unless the conveyancer knew that a new boiler had been fitted, they wouldn't have had any reason to look for one.

@prh47bridge fair enough although I would have thought that a significant number of properties would have had new boilers in the last 17 years so not exactly an unusual situation to query.

My boiler is 27 years old and still going strong.

And has been serviced annually btw.

Having just bought a house, this wouldn't be on my disaster list. If it's been serviced regularly, I'd be ok with it.

Check the seller’s reply to question 12.3 of the Property Information Form that they should have completed. This discloses the date of the boiler installation and shed light on whether your conveyancer should have made further enquiries if it was installed after 1 April 2005.

The lack of certification is a separate issue to the working order of the boiler. All the installation certificate does is evidence that a competent person certified the installation as being in accordance with building control requirements. It is not a guarantee.

12.3 of the property information form also asks the seller if the boiler is in good working order and when it was last serviced. A good conveyancer would request a copy of the most recent service record and ask for a service to be carried out if one hadn’t been done within the last 12 months.

Ask your conveyancer for a copy of the form and ask if any enquiries were raised about the boiler.

@HintofVintagePink thanks for this - very helpful. I'll check the responses on the form in the morning.