The short answer
It depends on whether building control was involved. A re-roof on an existing house normally needs no application where under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is affected, and then there is no completion certificate to receive. When the work does go through building control, the council issues one at the end, and Somerset Building Control keeps records for 15 years.
A completion certificate belongs to building control, not to the roofer. Here is when one exists, and what paperwork you hold when it does not.
Does your re-roof reach building control?
The Planning Portal's yardstick is simple: work touching under 25 per cent of the building envelope, the shell of walls, floor, roof and every opening, and under 50 per cent of the roof itself, normally needs no application. Approval becomes necessary when the new covering is 15 per cent or more heavier, or when it would behave quite differently from the old one in a fire.
Does Somerset Building Control set its own threshold?
No. Its pages offer no percentage specific to re-roofing, so the Planning Portal yardstick is the one to follow. Its fee calculator does have a category for re-roofing or insulation upgrades to a single dwelling, which applies when a re-roof is notifiable. If your job crosses the line, your building control body deals with it, and the certificate reaches you when it finishes.
Our answer on who notifies building control for a re-roof explains who sends the notice, and why it is worth raising at the survey. The roof replacement hub covers the rest of the job.
What a completion certificate actually is
A completion certificate is building control's record that finished work was inspected and meets the Building Regulations. It is issued to the building owner. A roofer cannot print one, because only the body that handled the application can sign it off.
Who handles building control in Taunton?
Somerset Building Control works for Somerset Council across the county's old district areas, and its number is 0300 303 7790. You can apply through its website, by email, or by letter addressed to Bridgwater House, King Square, Bridgwater TA6 3AR. On the Devon edge, Mid Devon District Council links to a joint building control service shared with North Devon; elsewhere, ask the council for your address.
How quickly does it respond?
Somerset Building Control's FAQ page says a Full Plans applicant usually hears within 10 working days, with a decision normally inside 5 weeks. A Building Notice usually gets a short acknowledgment from the council ahead of the first inspection visit. Work that triggers an application is therefore planned early, so the start date is not held up.
Registered building control approvers have also existed since April 2024, and private building control existed long before that.
Asking for a copy, and work that was never certified
If a certificate was issued years ago, Somerset Building Control keeps records for 15 years, and its Frequently Asked Questions page covers copy certificates. Ask the council that handled the work, and quote the address and, if you have it, the date.
What can you do if no certificate exists?
Where work that needed approval went ahead without it, Somerset Building Control says regularisation can be applied for if the work was carried out after 11 November 1985. That route lets the council inspect what can be seen and issue a certificate if it is satisfied. It takes time, so a buyer's solicitor who asks for one is best answered early.
The same trouble is avoidable on the day. If the survey says your job crosses the threshold, ask who is making the application and when the inspection visits happen. A completion certificate records an inspection, and it does not replace a written price or photographs.
If you are selling, our answer on whether a new roof adds value explains what buyers and surveyors look for in a roof file.
The paperwork you hold when no certificate exists
For a re-roof that needs no application, your record is the paperwork around the job. That means the written price, the pictures of the roof from the start, the middle and the finish, the receipts, the name of the contractor and the date the work ended.
What should go in the folder for a future buyer?
A buyer's solicitor will ask who did what, and when, and why. A tidy folder answers all three. Add the covering you chose, with the maker and product name, so the next owner can match a tile or find the data sheet. If listed building consent or planning permission was involved, include the decision notice as well.
We take the photographs at the survey and tell you at that visit whether your job needs building control. Our page on re-roof insulation and Part L shows how the insulation rules sit alongside it.
Keep the folder somewhere you can find it in ten years, because a roof outlives most filing systems, and the day you need the paperwork is usually the day a sale is under way. A photo of each slope, taken from the same spot every few years, also records how the covering has aged.
More on paperwork after a re-roof
Can my roofer give me a completion certificate?
No. A completion certificate comes from the building control body that handled the application, whether that is Somerset Building Control or a registered approver. Your roofer can give you the written price, photographs and receipts, which sit in the folder beside the certificate when there is one.
Does a certificate cover faults that appear later?
No. A completion certificate records that building control inspected the work against the Building Regulations. It tells you little about the roof's expected life or who puts a fault right. Ask your roofer what is in writing about the work itself, and keep that beside the certificate.
The full picture: Roof replacement and new roofs in Taunton ยท More short answers