Lost your FENSA, building regulations or gas certificate? How to get a replacement

A buyer’s solicitor will ask for proof that work on your home was done properly: new windows, a new boiler, an extension, a rewire. The certificate was handed over when the work finished, years ago, and has since gone the way of most paperwork. This is one of the most common reasons a sale stalls, and one of the easiest to fix, because almost every certificate is held by someone other than you and can be reissued.

The rule of thumb: the installer’s scheme or the council holds a record of any work that was properly registered. If you can find the record, you can get a copy. If there is no record, the work was probably never signed off, and that has its own, still manageable, route.

Replacement windows and doors (FENSA or CERTASS)

Windows and external doors fitted since April 2002 need building regulations sign-off. Most installers register the job with FENSA or CERTASS instead of the council, and both schemes keep the record. FENSA has a certificate search on its website: enter the postcode and the date the work was done, and if the job was registered you can order a replacement certificate for a small fee, delivered by email. CERTASS works the same way. If the search finds nothing, either the installer used the council route (ask building control, below) or the work was never registered.

Boilers and gas work (Gas Safe)

A new boiler installed by a Gas Safe registered engineer should have been notified to the Gas Safe Register, which then issues a Building Regulations Compliance Certificate. If yours is missing, the Register can send a copy; search for the property on gassaferegister.co.uk and request a duplicate, again for a small fee. Note that this certificate is about the installation. An annual gas safety record or service receipt is a different document and is not a legal requirement for selling a freehold home, though buyers like to see one.

Electrical work (Part P)

A rewire, a new consumer unit or new circuits should come with an Electrical Installation Certificate, and if the electrician was registered with a competent person scheme (NICEIC, NAPIT, ELECSA and others) the work was also notified to the council through that scheme. Start with the electrician if you know who did it; schemes keep records and can usually confirm a notification and provide a copy of the compliance certificate. If nothing can be found, an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) from a registered electrician, typically £150 to £300, shows the installation is safe today and satisfies most buyers.

Extensions, loft conversions and structural work (building regulations)

Any structural work should have a completion certificate from the council’s building control team, or from an approved inspector if one was used. Councils keep these records and will provide a copy, usually for a small fee, and a building regulations search by address on the council website often shows the history. If the work was done under an approved inspector, the council will still hold the final certificate they filed. If there is no record at all, the work was not signed off.

Planning permission

Decision notices are public. Almost every council has a planning portal where you can search by address and download the decision and approved drawings for free. If the work needed permission and none was granted, your conveyancer will advise; work over four years old (ten for some changes of use) is usually immune from enforcement, and the rules changed in 2024 so check the current position with them.

Guarantees and warranties

Damp proofing, timber treatment, cavity wall insulation, a new roof and a new-build warranty each come from the company that did the work or an insurer behind it. If the firm still exists, ask for a copy. For insurance-backed guarantees (look for names like GPI or QANW on your paperwork), the insurer holds the record and can confirm cover against the address. The NHBC and other new-build warranty providers will reissue documents to the current owner.

EPC and title

These two are never lost. Every EPC is on the government’s EPC register, free to search and download by postcode. The title register and plan for your home are held by HM Land Registry and an official copy costs a few pounds on GOV.UK. MoveMapper fetches both for you.

When the certificate never existed

Sometimes the search comes back empty because the work was never registered. This is common and it does not stop a sale, but it does need handling rather than hiding. The usual options are a regularisation certificate from the council, where building control inspects the work after the fact (it may involve opening something up, and takes weeks), or an indemnity insurance policy, a one-off premium of tens to a few hundred pounds that protects the buyer against enforcement action. Indemnity is quicker and far more common, but it has a catch: it is void if the council has been contacted about the work, so do not ring building control to ask before you have spoken to your conveyancer.

What to tell your buyer

Whatever you find, say so early. A missing certificate disclosed at the start, with the replacement on order or an indemnity in hand, costs a sale nothing. The same certificate discovered missing by the buyer’s solicitor in month three can cost the sale itself.