The Building Regulations are designed to ensure new buildings meet health, safety, welfare, convenience and sustainability standards. They relate to the specifics of how a building should be constructed, unlike planning permission, which is about the principle of whether development should go ahead or not.
Many jobs in the home need to be notified to and approved as being compliant with Building Regulations by a Building Control Body, either your Local Authority Building Control or a private sector Approved Inspector, unless carried out by installers registered with a Competent Person Scheme who can self-certify that their work is compliant. The Competent Person Scheme is a membership trade body for installers who are regularly assessed to ensure they meet the necessary standards of safe installation, giving homeowners confidence to select a reputable installer.
Competent Person Schemes (CPS) were introduced by the UK Government to allow individuals and enterprises to self-certify that their work complies with the Building Regulations as an alternative to submitting a building notice or using an approved inspector. A competent person must be registered with a scheme that has been approved by The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).
An installer registered with a Competent Person Scheme is qualified to carry out specific types of work in accordance with Building Regulations and should both notify the local authority of the work and issue you a certificate of compliance with Building Regulations either directly or through their scheme operator.
If you do not receive a certificate within 30 days of completion contact the Competent Person Scheme operator that your installer is registered with and they may be able to help you resolve this. If you do not use an installer registered with a Competent Person Scheme then you will have to submit a building notice or full plans application and pay a fee to have a Building Control Body come and inspect the work you have carried out. You will be given financial protection to cover the event of non-compliant work being found where the installation company has gone out of business.
Some competent person schemes for our industry to cover the installation or replacement of hot water and heating systems are:
Some registered installers also carry out work under the Green Deal, are members of the TrustMark scheme or the Microgeneration Certification Scheme all of which give further consumer protection.
