Gas & plumbing certification and compliance guide

What you need to know

The plain-English guidance that comes with this document.

• This is the compliance backbone of the pack — the bit that keeps you legal, not just competent. Doing sound work is one thing; being registered, issuing the right records, notifying the right work and meeting the current heating standard is what keeps you the right side of gas law, the Building Regulations and your registration. This one-pager keeps it all in view on a busy day.
• Gas Safe registration is non-negotiable and category-specific. Only registered engineers can legally work on gas, and only within the categories on the card (boilers, cookers, LPG, commercial, etc.). Working outside your categories — or unregistered — is a criminal offence and uninsurable. Customers checking the register is a good thing; it's what protects the trade's reputation and yours.
• The landlord gas record is the highest-volume compliance job you'll do — get the timings exact. Twelve-monthly checks, the record to the tenant within 28 days (and to a new tenant before they move in), and keep copies at least two years. The stakes just went up in England: under the Renters' Rights Act, a landlord who can't show a valid record can be locked out of eviction proceedings — so your customers need this done properly and on time, and you're the person who delivers it. (See the landlord gas summary in this pack, and cross-refers to the Landlord pack.)
• Notify what's notifiable, and self-certify through the right route. Boilers and most heating appliances go through Gas Safe (you issue the Building Regulations Compliance Certificate); an unvented cylinder needs the G3 qualification and its own scheme. Doing notifiable work without registering it or telling building control is a Building Regulations breach that surfaces when the house is sold. When in doubt, notify.
• Boiler Plus is the standard every gas boiler must meet — know the combi rule. 92% ErP, time and temperature controls, and for a new combi one of the four additional measures (smart thermostat with automation/optimisation, load or weather compensation, or FGHR). Fitting a bare boiler with no compliant control is a common, avoidable failing.
• Benchmark isn't box-ticking — it protects the customer's warranty. Completing the Benchmark commissioning checklist and registering the appliance is usually what validates the manufacturer's guarantee. Skip it and you can cost the customer their warranty and yourself a callback. (See the commissioning & handover record.)
• Don't forget water regs and CO. WRAS-approved fittings and backflow prevention are real duties, some water work needs advance notice to the supplier, and CO alarms are required in defined situations (and in rented homes with fixed combustion appliances). These are easy to overlook next to the gas work.
• This is a memory aid, not the rulebook. It doesn't replace Gas Safe's technical bulletins, the regulations, BS standards, or the manufacturer's instructions. It's here to stop the routine slip. Low-carbon heating rules and grants are changing — keep this under review, and verify the current Boiler Upgrade Scheme position before you rely on it.