Do I need a HETAS certificate to sell my house?

At a Glance

You do not need to produce a HETAS certificate simply to sell your house. However, if your home has a solid fuel appliance such as a log burner or wood-burning stove, the buyer's conveyancer is likely to ask for evidence that the installation was properly notified under Building Regulations. A missing certificate can occasionally slow things down, so knowing what a HETAS certificate is and what your options are if you cannot find one will help you prepare for a smoother sale.

What is a HETAS Certificate?

HETAS stands for Heating Equipment Testing and Approvals Scheme. It is the only Competent Person Scheme in England and Wales specialising in the installation of solid fuel, wood and biomass technologies. It also operates approval schemes for appliances, fuels and related products.

When a solid fuel appliance (such as a log burner, wood-burning stove, open fireplace, biomass boiler or multi-fuel cooker) is installed by a HETAS-registered engineer, that installer issues a Certificate of Compliance. This document confirms two things: that the appliance was installed in line with the relevant Building Regulations (primarily Approved Document J in England and Wales), and that the local authority has been notified of the installation, as required by law.

According to HETAS, the certificate is sent to you via Royal Mail within around two weeks of your installer notifying the installation through the HETAS system. It applies to the specific appliance installed and remains valid for the lifetime of that appliance, unless it is replaced.

The certificate is sometimes described as a Building Regulation Compliance Certificate. If your installer was HETAS-registered, the work is typically recorded with your local authority as part of the HETAS notification process, which means the installation should sit on the building control record for your home.

Is it a Legal Requirement to have a HETAS Certificate?

This is where there is a common point of confusion, so it is worth separating the legal requirements clearly.

The legal requirement is to notify your local authority. According to HETAS, it is a legal requirement in England and Wales to notify any solid fuel installation to the relevant Local Authority Building Control, either through a Competent Person Scheme such as HETAS, or by applying directly to the council. Failure to notify can result in enforcement action.

The HETAS certificate is evidence that notification has been made. It is not a separate legal requirement in its own right. If your installer was HETAS-registered, the notification was made on your behalf, and the certificate is the proof. If the work was carried out without notification, that is where the legal issue lies.

Holding the physical certificate is not itself a legal obligation for sellers. The underlying registration should exist on your local authority's building control records, regardless of whether you still have the paper document. If you have mislaid your certificate, the record may still exist, and it is simply a question of obtaining a copy.

There is also a requirement under Building Regulations that a carbon monoxide alarm is fitted in the same room as any new or replacement solid fuel appliance in England. Changes to Approved Document J came into effect in Wales in January 2025, extending this requirement to all fixed combustion appliance types. Your conveyancer or surveyor may check for this, particularly on more recent installations.

A Note on Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man

The HETAS Competent Person Scheme self-certification route applies in England and Wales only. In Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man, regulations differ, and the HETAS self-certification process does not apply in the same way. If your property is in one of these areas, contact your local authority before any installation work begins, and seek advice from a conveyancer familiar with the relevant jurisdiction.

Do I Need a HETAS Certificate to Sell My House?

The short answer is no. A HETAS certificate is not a compulsory requirement for completing a property sale in England and Wales, and many transactions involving solid fuel appliances complete without the physical document ever being produced.

That said, whether the certificate is requested and how any absence is handled will depend on the buyer's conveyancer and their lender's requirements. It is worth understanding the process so you are not caught off guard.

What Typically Happens During a Sale

Your solicitor will ask you to complete a Property Information Form (TA6), which includes questions about any alterations, installations and compliance documents relating to the property. You will be asked whether you have documentation for the solid fuel appliance. If you have the certificate, the process is straightforward, and you simply hand it over.

If you do not have it, do not panic. Your conveyancer can usually check whether the installation is recorded on your local authority's building control register via the searches carried out during the conveyancing process. If the record exists, that may be sufficient to satisfy the buyer's conveyancer without a physical certificate being needed.

If the installation is not recorded anywhere (because it was carried out without notification, because it predates the 2005 requirement, or because the work was self-installed), the situation becomes more complicated. In those cases, indemnity insurance is usually the route taken to allow the sale to proceed.

What to Do if You Cannot Find Your HETAS Certificate

Important: If your installation may not have been properly notified to the local authority at the time, speak to your conveyancing solicitor before contacting the council or building control department. Contacting the local authority about a potentially unregistered installation could invalidate any indemnity insurance policy that might otherwise be available to protect the sale. Your conveyancer will advise on the appropriate next steps given your specific circumstances.

What Are the Other Competent Person Schemes for Solid Fuel Appliances?

HETAS is not the only route to compliance. A number of other government-authorised Competent Person Schemes (CPS) can also certify solid fuel appliance installations in England and Wales. If your appliance was installed by a registered member of any of the following schemes, you may have a compliance certificate from them rather than from HETAS.

If your appliance was installed by a registered member of any of these schemes, contact the relevant organisation directly to request a copy of your compliance documentation.

For gas appliances, the relevant scheme is the Gas Safe Register, which is a separate and legally required register for all engineers working on gas systems in the UK. Gas and solid fuel installations are entirely separate from a compliance perspective.

What is Indemnity Insurance and How Does it Help?

If a HETAS or other compliance certificate cannot be produced and there is no record of the installation on the local authority's building control register, indemnity insurance is typically the solution that allows the sale to proceed.

Indemnity insurance is a one-off policy taken out to protect a buyer (and their lender, if applicable) against the financial risk of enforcement action by the local authority where an installation was not properly notified. It does not make the installation compliant, but it can provide a financial safety net that many buyers and mortgage lenders may accept, depending on the circumstances.

Policies of this kind are relatively straightforward to arrange through a conveyancer and, according to solicitors' guidance, can often be obtained quickly. Costs vary depending on the property value and the nature of the risk, but they are generally a modest one-off expense compared to the cost of reinstalling an appliance.

A few things to be aware of:

• Indemnity insurance policies can be invalidated if the local authority is contacted about the missing documentation before the policy is in place. Speak to your conveyancer before taking any action.
• The policy is usually one-off and is tied to the property, meaning it can be passed to future buyers.
• Your conveyancer will advise whether the seller or buyer typically meets the cost in your specific situation, and which insurer to use.
• If there are safety concerns about the appliance itself as well as the paperwork, that is a separate matter requiring a qualified inspection, and a buyer may seek to reflect any potential remediation cost in their offer.

What to Pass On to the Buyer

If you do have your HETAS certificate and associated paperwork, it is good practice to pass everything on to the new owners. This includes:

1. The Certificate of Compliance, which confirms the installation was notified and compliant at the time it was carried out.
2. The servicing and safety record sheet, issued by a HETAS-approved servicing technician and recording the tests carried out during each service and any required follow-up work. According to HETAS, passing this on gives the new owners a history of how the appliance has been maintained, which is useful for future servicing.
3. The appliance manual, which contains operating instructions for the specific appliance installed.

Passing on a complete set of documentation gives buyers confidence and reduces the chance of enquiries holding up exchange and completion.

Selling Your Home with a Solid Fuel Appliance: Choosing the Right Agent

While a conveyancer will lead on the legal and documentation aspects of your sale, the estate agent you choose can make a meaningful difference to how smoothly the process runs. An agent with good experience selling homes with log burners, open fires or solid fuel heating will know what paperwork buyers are likely to ask about and can help you prepare in advance.

Using GetAgent's free comparison tool lets you compare local estate agents by their actual sales performance, including how quickly they sell homes like yours and what percentage of the asking price their sellers typically achieve. Over 1.2 million UK homeowners have used GetAgent to find an agent, according to GetAgent's own research.

If your home has features that require careful handling at the conveyancing stage, such as a solid fuel appliance without full documentation, it may also be worth looking at agents with demonstrably strong performance in your area. You can read more about how to compare estate agents and choose the right one for your sale on the GetAgent blog.

References

• Bowcock Cuerden Solicitors: Common enquiries buyers raise and how sellers can prepare
• Gas Safe Register
• HETAS: Building Regulations guidance
• HETAS: Certificate of Compliance
• HETAS: Consumer FAQs
• HETAS: Welsh Government amendments to solid fuel installation requirements
• My Home Move Conveyancing: What is indemnity insurance?
• Planning Portal