Sustainability certificates for new build homes

Relevant to
The home building industry in England

Took effect on
1 May 2008

From 1 May 2008, sellers of new homes who apply for Building Control approval for their development on or after this date will need to include in the Home Information Pack (HIP) either:

• a Code sustainability certificate - where the home has been designed and assessed against the Code
• a nil-rated certificate - available to download free of charge from the HIP website - where the home has not been designed and built to the Code

The Code for Sustainable Homes is the national standard for the design and construction of sustainable new homes.

If building work on a new Code home is still in progress at the first point of marketing, the Code assessor will issue an interim Code certificate setting out the level to which the home has been designed.

Code certificates will contain information on nine components that make up the sustainability rating. They include:

• energy and water efficiency
• materials used
• surface water runoff
• waste
• pollution
• management
• health and wellbeing
• ecology

Only trained and licensed Code Assessors are permitted to carry out assessments and produce Code certificates. A Code certificate will:

• confirm whether they have carried out a design stage or a post-construction assessment
• confirm who carried out the assessment
• award a star rating of between zero and six stars and explain that rating
• provide a percentage rating against categories relating to the components that make up the Code rating
• number and date the certificate

There also will be an extension until 1st January 2009 of the exemption allowing insurance to be substituted for information in searches forming part of the HIP where there is no access to local authority records.

• Find out how to access the services of an assessor on the Communities and Local Government website - Opens in a new window
• Find the Code for Sustainable Homes on the Communities and Local Government website - Opens in a new window
• Download the explanatory memorandum to the Home Information Pack regulations from the Office of Public Sector Information website (PDF) - Opens in a new window

Full title of regulation
Home Information Pack (Amendment) Regulations 2008 [SI 2008 572]

From
Communities and Local Government

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