How to find a HETAS certificate or get a replacement

To find a HETAS certificate for your stove or fireplace installation, start with the scheme's online search, then work through the installer, building control and the property file if that search comes up empty. This guide covers the search, the £36 replacement, what to do when no notification exists, and where Data Plate Hub's Classic and Bespoke notice plates sit next to your compliance documents.

Find or replace a HETAS certificate

A HETAS Certificate of Compliance is a record of solid fuel work notified through the HETAS scheme for one specific installation. It covers the notified work only. It says nothing about the stove's present condition, so it is not an inspection report. Once you know what the record is, you can trace it in a few steps.

Search the installation record online

The HETAS online search looks up the property's own record. You can search in either of two ways, and every search goes through an email check first.

• Property postcode: enter the postcode of the address where the appliance is installed.
• Certificate reference: use an existing reference if you have it on old paperwork.
• Email verification: give an email address before the search runs.
• New code each time: a fresh verification code is sent for every search, so you cannot reuse an earlier one.

Order a replacement and check delivery

You can only get a replacement when a matching original HETAS record exists. HETAS charges £36 for a replacement certificate. After you pay, the confirmation email with the certificate and invoice should arrive within 30 minutes. If it does not appear, look in your junk or spam folders before doing anything else.

Which registered installations qualify?

Homeowners and property owners can search for a matching record. Buyers, solicitors and landlords can also use the public search, but a result does not mean they can see every record behind it. The records themselves come from a registered, competent appliance installer, who self-certifies the work and arranges the notification. As a result, the homeowner does not need separate building-control approval.

A new or replacement log burner generally has to meet the applicable Building Regulations. In England and Wales, the evidence can come from an eligible competent-person scheme or from building control, so it need not be a HETAS certificate. In practice, this means the right record may be held somewhere other than HETAS.

When the search finds no certificate

A missing HETAS certificate usually has a simple cause: the wrong search details, a record held by another body, or an original that never arrived. Work through these in order.

Check the details with the original installer

If the postcode search fails, try the certificate reference, or the other way round. Also check which postcode the property had when the work was done. If that still fails, ask the installer for these details:

• Notification reference: the number created when the work was notified.
• Installation date and any certificate paperwork they kept.
• Scheme used: confirmation of which competent-person scheme certified the job.

Checking that an installer is registered is not the same as finding the record for your address. If the installer has changed trading name or closed, keep the old invoice and any other installation paperwork. Those documents support your request when you ask HETAS or building control to trace the work.

Trace records outside HETAS

An unsuccessful HETAS search does not prove the work was never approved. Another eligible competent-person scheme may hold the record, or building control may. Your local building-control authority can check for a building notice, application, inspection, completion certificate or other record linked to the stove or fireplace work.

An inherited stove takes a little more groundwork. Go through the previous owner's documents, the conveyancing file and any installer paperwork first. Once you have those, the relevant scheme or authority has something concrete to search against.

Resolve missing or incorrect originals

Once a registered installer has notified the work, HETAS says the original certificate should arrive by post within 2 weeks. If it has not arrived, report it within 2 months of installation. After that, the duplicate-certificate fee applies. General government guidance allows up to eight weeks after completion for a competent-person scheme certificate, but that is not HETAS's replacement processing time.

If a record is wrong, or the replacement email never arrives, contact HETAS rather than ordering the same record again. The distinction lies in the cause: the record may not have been found, access may have been withheld, a correction may lack evidence, or no notification may exist. Ask which applies and what evidence is needed.

When no original notification exists

Sometimes the trace confirms that the work was never notified. That changes the question. You are no longer recovering a document. You are documenting compliance by another route.

Can a certificate be issued retrospectively?

No. A duplicate reproduces a notification that already exists. It cannot certify work that was never notified through HETAS. An assessment of an existing log burner can report on its present condition, but it does not recreate a past notification or produce a Certificate of Compliance.

A missing HETAS certificate does not, by itself, mean the installation was never approved or is unsafe. A building-control completion or regularisation certificate shows legal compliance by a separate route. It is a different document, not a duplicate HETAS certificate.

Ask building control about regularisation

In England, government guidance names regularisation as a possible building-control route for qualifying work carried out without the required consent after 11 November 1985. Regularisation means the local authority assesses the finished work after the event. The authority may inspect the installation, ask for evidence, require concealed parts to be opened up, and require remedial work before it issues a certificate.

Fees depend on the local authority and the work involved. Government guidance sets no single nationwide fee for regularising a stove, so ask your authority for a quote before you apply.

England's guidance does not set the process for the whole UK. In Wales, check with the local authority building-control service or a registered building-control approver. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own building-standards and building-control arrangements.

Prepare evidence of the installation

Compliance starts with a complete evidence file, although the authority decides what it actually needs. Gather the following before you make contact:

• Property and installer: address, installation date, installer details, invoices and photographs.
• Appliance and flue: stove make, model and output, flue and chimney details, and any notice plate.
• Records: testing, commissioning and maintenance evidence, plus any earlier application or completion paperwork.

Concealed work can make a later assessment harder. One building-control guide describes inspecting the flue before a wood-burning appliance is fitted and again at completion when the work is done outside the registered-installer route. Without that earlier inspection, hidden sections may need opening up.

Where notice plates fit with compliance documents

Plates and certificates do different jobs. A certificate records that the work was notified. A plate records technical facts at the appliance or chimney itself. Both belong in the same file.

Distinguish appliance and installation plates

Your installation may carry two kinds of plate, and neither one is evidence of notification on its own.

• Appliance data plate: identifies the stove, and may give its model, serial number, rated output and fuel type, depending on the manufacturer.
• Installation notice plate: records the performance capabilities of the hearth, fireplace, flue or chimney.
• Regulatory basis: in England, Requirement J5 and Approved Document J cover this information. The 2022 amendments took effect on 1 October 2022.
• Limits: a plate cannot confirm concealed flue details, clearances to combustible materials or legal compliance.

A plate may be present where the work was never notified. Equally, a certificate may exist where the plate is missing. Check each one separately.

Record details on Classic and Bespoke plates

Data Plate Hub supplies a Classic Data Notice Plate for chimneys and stoves. It records installation details for chimneys, flues, log burners, stoves and multi-fuel appliances. We supply adhesive fixing dots with it, and we advise filling in the details with a permanent marker.

For branded work, our Bespoke Data Notice Plates with your business logo carry your business name or logo as well as the installation details. The same adhesive dots fix them in place without drilling or screws.

Once a design exists, you can reorder bespoke plates for new installations. A completed notice plate provides installation information. It does not replace a HETAS certificate.

Keep plates alongside the document file

When you are tracing records, photograph the notice plate where it is fixed and write down every detail you can read. Record the stove's make, model and serial number separately. The plate's technical information helps an authority investigate, but it does not oblige the authority to issue a certificate.

A property file may hold the Certificate of Compliance, chimney-sweeping certificates, any required planning consent, the appliance instructions and servicing records. Building-regulations approval and planning permission are separate things. Buyers, solicitors, lenders and insurers may ask for installation evidence, and gaps can hold up a sale or an insurance enquiry. An indemnity policy may address the paperwork risk. It does not prove the stove's safety.

Frequently Asked Questions