Boiler Installation Certificate

[sbchilton]

About 20 months ago we had a new combi boiler installed by a family friend for free! . He was previously corgi registered for many years until going part time with his firm and now he only does water and i believe supervised gas plumbing.

Anyway because of this we do not have an installation certificate and we are about to put our house on the market

Do we simply get someone who is corgi registerd to ok the install? or Do we have the whole thing disconnected and re-intalled? or does anyone have any other suggestions?

I'm keen to get this sorted so we don't have problems selling so any advice on this would be great.

- Cheers

 

[oilman]

You speak to your building control dept who will tell you what they need. Only an idiot would certify someone elses work, in any case it's not permitted except for BC.

 

[Agile]

Thats the downside of using non CORGI registered people.

What does the installer suggest?

You could get someone to do a gas safety Certificate and see if you can get away with that but its not correct.

Or you could get it reinstalled but that will be about £200 but would correct the paperwork and ensure you get no problems with the sale.

There is only one way to do boiler installations correctly. To use a CORGI registered engineer doing the work in the course of his normal work.

A British Gas employee working on the side is not likely to be insured or CORGI registered.

Tony

 

[sbchilton]

Yeah in hind site I think I should of turned down the offer or just had him do the bits he is allowed to do, but it was my first house and I had no clue of all the complications surrounding stuff like this.

I really want to make it above board so i'm certainly not bothered about forking out the cash.

Is it a case of just getting a corgi plumber to come and re-commission the existing boiler and re-connect all of the gas or do i need a new boiler too?

Thanks

 

[Agile]

You need a CORGI to "reinstall" it and notify CORGi of his installation.

This would require taking boiler off the wall, refitting the boiler, refitting the flue, probably just testing the gas supply and then recommissioning the boiler.

It depends on what he feels he can get away with and that will depend on the apparent quality of the installation.

Its not correct but there are some people who would take a cursary look at it and fill in the paperwork and charge about £80. Others would not touch it with a barge pole.

We would do it properly and charge about £200.

I am assuming that its a condensing boiler and it was recently manufactured when first installed ! All boilers fitted since April 2005 must be !

Tony

 

[sbchilton]

Thanks Tony you are proving most helpful. £200 is a small price to pay for a smooth house sale.

Will it matter on corgi's part that the boiler was purchased nearly 2 years ago, and how long will it take to get the certs back as the house is supposed to go on the market by the end of June.

Thanks again

 

[sbchilton]

I am assuming that its a condensing boiler and it was recently manufactured when first installed ! All boilers fitted since April 2005 must be !

Yeah it's a BAXI 105HE COMBI was purchased Sept 2005 from plumb centre

 

[Agile]

Will it matter on corgi's part that the boiler was purchased nearly 2 years ago, and how long will it take to get the certs back as the house is supposed to go on the market by the end of June.

The manufacture date is fine in this case.

Unless your house is covered by the HIP then the certificate is not required until a buyer is found.

Corgi advise Building Control within 4-5 days by email and issue the Certificate to you within 5-7 days.

Tony

 

[sbchilton]

I guess I just need to find a corgi installer in my area now.

Thanks

 

[ChrisR]

In my experience (local) you don't need anyone to "certify" the installation itself, for house sale purposes. These things go missing - you don't have to have a boiler reinstalled if that happens!
You could legally have installed the boiiler yourself. In that case you should have informed local Building Control at the time, but I've not heard of them doing anything about it later.
All it would need (as I say, as far as I've found) is a Homeowner's (like a Landlord's) Gas Safety Record, to say the installation is safe. For a boiler alone, that might be £50.

Maybe when HIPS are properly introduced for small properties etc etc that will change.
Check with an Estate Agent near you.

 

[sbchilton]

Ok I spoke with a corgi plumber who told me that he's not sure if a boiler can be registered 2 years after it's purchase date therefore simply re-installing it would not be enough.

Any ideas??

 

[ChrisR]

In principle it can - eg if they're moved they're re-registered.
IF you need it to be registered for your sale at all...
Try Building Control over that. Corgi would charge you for asking, and they don't make the rules anyway, it's Building Regs.

We're also Corgi regd, but not "Authorities"...

 

[sbchilton]

Ok so which route is best to take?

I have found a plumber who will "re-install" the boiler register it with corgi and provide a saftey certificate for £150. Alternativly another plumber will conduct just a saftey check for £45.

Many Thanks

 

[richw]

Personally, I'd forget about it.

In the unlikely event that the purchaser's solicitor asks you about the boiler, simply state that you cannot remember when it was installed or last serviced. Point out that THEY are more than welcome to come round and test the hot water and heating themselves, or even pay a Corgi-registered tradesman to verify it is working and safe.

Put the onus on the purchaser. Will they really walk away from something costing over £100k (I assume) for the sake of a boiler? I doubt it.

If you do have a receipt from a recent boiler service, then offer them a photocopy. That's a nice bonus.

Remember that most purchasers don't even have the building inspected beyond the 'mortgage valuation'. That is something to worry about, not the boiler!

All in my humble opinion.

 

[namsag]

Taking my engineers head off as a person trying to sell a house i would just say i can`t remember if i had to have one and you can`t remember who fitted it.A lot of people don`t keep paperwork. Get boiler properly serviced and checked with any installation faults fixed and get a receipt that say all ok.. This is just another money making letter from solicitor,, I am thinking off sending the next one who asks for a certificate for a pre registered req appliance a bill for wasting my time having to explain to customer they are not required and solicitor is mistaken