How to Get a Copy of a Gas or Electrical Certificate

Two kinds of document get called a certificate, and they live in different places.

• The test or commissioning record is written by the trader who did the work: an Electrical Installation Certificate, an EICR, a Landlord Gas Safety Record, a Benchmark commissioning checklist. Only that trader, or the landlord who commissioned it, holds a copy. No register keeps it.
• The Building Regulations Compliance Certificate is issued by the competent person scheme the trader belongs to, after they notify the job. The scheme keeps a record, and most will sell you a duplicate.

So the first question is which one you have lost. The second is who did the work, because the scheme they used decides where the duplicate comes from.

Building Regulations Compliance Certificate for a boiler or other gas appliance. Gas Safe Register issues these after the engineer notifies the installation, and sells duplicates. Order online at gassaferegister.co.uk or call 0800 408 5500, option 1. The fee is £8.40 including VAT, one certificate per order, emailed to you and posted to the installation address only. Gas Safe cannot supply certificates for work before 7 September 2011. You search by the postcode of the property; if nothing comes up, the engineer never notified the job, and you go back to the business that did the work.

Landlord Gas Safety Record. This is the annual safety check record, sometimes called a CP12. Gas Safe does not hold it. The landlord must give tenants a copy within 28 days of the check and new tenants a copy before they move in, and must keep records for two years, so the landlord or the engineer who did the check is the source.

Electrical Installation Certificate, Minor Works Certificate, EICR. These come only from the electrician who did the work or, in a rented home, the landlord, who must keep a copy. Electrical Safety First's answer to "can I download an EICR" is no. If you never received one, contact the scheme the electrician was registered with. Owner-occupiers sometimes find a dated label inside the consumer unit naming the contractor, which is enough to start.

Building Regulations Compliance Certificate for notifiable electrical work. Which scheme issued it decides where the duplicate comes from:

• NICEIC, or the former ELECSA scheme: search the notification and order a duplicate at checkmynotification.com.
• NAPIT: certificates are posted within 30 days of completion; download a copy at brcc.napit.org.uk, or call NAPIT customer services on 0345 543 0330.
• Unknown scheme: your council's building control holds the notification record and can confirm whether consent was needed and obtained.

• FENSA (replacement windows and doors): find and order a certificate at forms.fensa.org.uk/fensa-certificate. The fee is £30 including VAT. You need your name, the installation address and the installer's name.
• Certass (the other window scheme): request a replacement at replacements.certass.co.uk with your name, the installer, the completion date and the address; they respond within ten working days.
• HETAS (wood burners, stoves, solid fuel): order a copy Certificate of Compliance at hetas.co.uk by postcode or reference, £36 per certificate, emailed within about 30 minutes. A re-issue within two months of installation is free.
• OFTEC (oil boilers and tanks): a replacement compliance certificate costs £40 plus VAT at oftec.org, searched by certificate number or postcode and house number. If you have neither, email registration@oftec.org or call 01473 626 298.
• MCS (solar panels, batteries, heat pumps): ask the original installer first. MCS only issues a copy when the installer is no longer certified or trading, for £30 plus VAT with proof of address, within ten working days. Call 0333 103 8130 to check whether a certificate exists; the MCS database holds every certified installation since 2008.

Selling. The Law Society's TA6 property information form, in its sixth edition from 30 March 2026, asks about alterations, planning permission, building regulations approval and competent person self-certification. The buyer's conveyancer will want the approval notice and the completion or compliance certificate for each job, and has a duty to take reasonable steps to obtain them.

Renting out. In England a private rented home needs an electrical inspection at least every five years, with the report given to tenants within 28 days, to new tenants before they move in, and to the council within seven days if asked. The gas safety check is annual. Both records must be producible on demand.

If the search comes back empty and the trader cannot be found, the work was never notified. Two routes remain.

Regularisation. A retrospective application to your council's building control for unauthorised work started on or after 11 November 1985. Only the local authority can grant one, not a private approver. Building control may need parts of the work exposed or opened up to inspect it, and may require corrections before issuing the certificate. Councils set their own fee, commonly at least 120 per cent of the normal approval fee.

Indemnity insurance. The conveyancing workaround: a policy covering the cost if the council takes enforcement action. LABC's description is the honest one: it usually covers only legal action by the local authority and does not remove the problem with the property. Liability for defective work passes to the buyer with the house.

For electrical work the practical answer is an Electrical Installation Condition Report from a registered electrician, which gives you a tested record of what is actually there. For gas, a registered engineer can inspect the appliance and issue a new record.