Do You Get a Certificate for a New Roof?

Whether you receive a certificate depends on whether the job needed approval in the first place. The Planning Portal sets a two-part test. Work normally escapes building control when it touches under 25 per cent of the whole building envelope (everything from the walls and floor to the windows and roof-lights) and under 50 per cent of the roof itself. A whole-roof replacement touches all of the roof, so it is past that second test, and a full re-roof is the sort of job to check with building control first.

Two other triggers matter. Choosing a covering that weighs 15 per cent or more over what is there now brings the job into approval, and so does one that will behave very differently in a fire, as the Planning Portal explains. Swapping lightweight slate for heavy concrete tiles is the sort of change that trips the first one.

Councils also word the rule in their own way. In Crawley borough the council's own building control team draws the line lower: it says replacing more than 25% of a roof's surface needs approval. If you live elsewhere, ask your own building control body before the job is booked, not afterwards. Our answer on re-roofing and Building Regulations sets out the tests in more detail.

When approval was needed, the building control body inspects the work as it goes and, once it is satisfied, issues a completion certificate. That single sheet of paper is the proof that the roof was checked against the Building Regulations. In Crawley borough the service is Crawley Building Control, which the council describes as its Local Authority Building Control service. Other councils nearby run their own team or share one, so the name on your certificate may differ.

Since April 2024 there is also a registration regime for building control approvers, so a private inspector must be a registered building control approver. Private building control existed before that date; only the registration is new.

The certificate is something the building control body issues, not the roofer. Be wary of any paper a roofing firm produces itself and calls a certificate. If a firm says it can certify its own work under a scheme, ask which scheme, then check the scheme's own list of members, as Citizens Advice suggests for any claimed membership. Keep the certificate with the deeds or in the house file once you have it.

When you sell, the buyer's solicitor sends enquiries about building work done during your ownership, and a new roof is an obvious item on the list. If the work needed approval, they will ask for the completion certificate. If one is missing, the question can hold up the sale while it is chased, and it can mean extra work for you at an awkward moment. That is why the question is worth settling before the scaffold goes up, when it costs nothing.

Buyers' surveyors look at roofs too, but they look at condition rather than paperwork. A clean report on a recent roof helps, and a certificate or a set of proper records backs that up. We cover the selling side in whether a new roof adds value.

Treat this as a guide and not as legal advice. Your conveyancer decides what your buyer's solicitor will accept, so show them what you hold early, and ask them to say plainly whether anything further is needed.

If your re-roof fell below the thresholds, there is nothing to certify, and a solicitor will usually want other evidence that the work was done properly. Build a small file as the job runs. Keep the written quote, which should be one total price, the final invoice and proof of payment. Keep dated photos of the roof before, during and after, because they show the battens, underlay and fixings that disappear under the covering.

Ask for the product name and data sheet of the tile or slate fitted, plus whatever the roofer and the manufacturer give you in writing about the work. If a scaffold licence was arranged because the scaffold stood on the pavement, keep a copy of that as well.

If you cannot tell which side of the line your roof falls, tell us the address and what you plan to fit. We will list the questions to put to your building control team before you book anyone. For the wider picture on this type of job, start at our roof replacement page.