Getting Started
172 sources in the library on getting started. Each one says what the document covers and what it is good for. Name a source to see which document it is and where to read it. One at a time. Page 4 of 5.
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Age UK
Route into funded adaptations for an older or disabled occupant. The first step is a free care needs assessment from the local council, to which everyone is entitled regardless of income or savings. Where the assessment recommends minor adaptations costing £1,000 or less, such as grab rails, a dropped kerb or outside lights, the council must provide and fit them free of charge. Larger adaptations go through a Disabled Facilities Grant. Points to non means tested disability benefits, Personal Independence Payment or Attendance Allowance depending on age, as a further source of funds, and gives the free Age UK advice line 0800 678 1602, open 8am to 7pm, 365 days a year, plus specialist advisers at over 120 local Age UKs.
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Age UK
March 2026 edition, 26 pages. Disabled Facilities Grant: the maximum grant is £30,000, the disabled person must intend to live in the property as their only or main home for at least five years after completion (the grant condition period), applications by or for a disabled adult are means tested unless made by a landlord for a disabled tenant, and the council must decide as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within six months of the application, in writing and with reasons if refused, appealable through the complaints procedure and then the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. Councils may not charge for aids and minor adaptations, defined as costing £1,000 or less. Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants of £2,500 to £7,500 depending on technology, requiring an existing fossil fuel system, with biomass only in rural or off gas grid properties. Council tenants' Right to Repair covers qualifying repairs the authority estimates will cost less than £250 under the Secure Tenants of Local Housing Authorities (Right to Repair) Regulations 1994, with total loss of electric power to be fixed in one working day and a leaking roof in seven working days, and compensation of up to £50 per job if the second contractor also misses the deadline. Awaab's Law phase one took effect 27 October 2025 for emergency hazards and serious damp and mould. Also notes the landlord EPC E cost cap of £3,500 for registering an exemption.
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Bat Conservation Trust
How to establish whether a building holds a roost before work starts. A roost is any place a bat uses for shelter or protection, regardless of species, numbers or how long it is used, and is protected all year round whether or not bats are present, because bats are loyal to roosts and return at the same time each year. Bats build no nest and cause no damage, using existing cracks and crevices, and move between roosts through the year as their needs change. Look for droppings, and watch for emergence at around sunset, or up to an hour after, during May to September, or run a dawn re entry survey where the access point is unknown. Local bat groups and local records centres may hold records, but the absence of a record does not mean there is no roost. Warns against disturbance during hibernation, when waking bats burns reserves they may not replace before spring, and during the summer maternity season, when disturbed mothers may abandon a pup, of which there is typically only one a year.
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Cadent Gas
The homeowner emergency procedure and who pays. If you smell gas, call the free National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999, available 24 hours; turn the gas off at the meter unless the meter is in a cellar or basement. If a pipeline is struck during digging, even with no apparent leak, move away and keep others away, then call 0800 111 999. Cadent operates a 'make safe' service: attendance to make you and the property safe and to check for leaks is not charged, but any follow-on work by a Gas Safe registered engineer may be. When tracing a reported leak Cadent may enter neighbouring homes or dig the road, may cut off the supply if it is unsafe to leave on, and may not complete the repair in a single day. The National Gas Emergency Service does not deal with boiler or appliance faults, including a frozen condensate pipe that will not thaw, which is a matter for the boiler cover provider or a Gas Safe registered engineer.
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Cadent Gas
The household new-connection route. Same commercial clock as an alteration: quote, then up to 90 days to return the signed acceptance with payment, then on average 6 to 8 weeks from payment to carry out the works, with a confirmation call the week before. The key figure needed before applying for a quote is the distance in metres from the intended gas meter position to the property boundary, because the transporter prices the service pipe run from the main in the street to the boundary and then to the meter. Connections line 0800 074 5788.
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Cardiff University, Welsh School of Architecture
Five years of five-minute-interval monitoring of the SOLCER House, built 2015, the first affordable energy positive house in the UK. Measured results: total annual electricity imported from the grid 1,112 kWh against 1,458 kWh exported, an overall energy-positive performance of 346 kWh; the house exports 1.3 times more electricity than it consumes and imports about 25 per cent of its energy from the grid, mainly for heating in colder months; net carbon emissions around minus 179 kg per year; savings of up to £1,000 a year on energy bills. Build data a self-builder can use: 100 sq m, three bedrooms, built for £1,200 per sq m using locally sourced materials where possible. Design moves: photovoltaic panels form the south-facing roof and replace roof tiles, and a solar air heating system forms the first-floor external wall finish instead of render, so the generating technology substitutes for cladding rather than adding to it. Published in Energies, 2021. The work led the Welsh Government to invest £91 million in grants, producing over 1,400 affordable low carbon homes.
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Citizens Advice
The consumer route when workmanship is poor. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 a service must be carried out with reasonable care and skill, so the buyer can ask for it to be done again, ask for a price reduction, or claim the cost of putting it right. The law requires the trader be offered the chance to redo the work first, unless redoing it is impossible, would take an unreasonably long time or would cause significant inconvenience, in which case a discount can be demanded straight away. A redo must be completed within a 'reasonable time', which the Act does not define. The window to ask for things to be put right is up to 6 years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 5 years in Scotland, running from when the fault appears rather than from completion.
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Electrical Safety First
What to check on the electrics of a property before buying or renovating. States plainly that electrical checks are not included in a standard home survey, so an existing Electrical Installation Condition Report should be sought and, failing that, one commissioned from a registered electrician. Viewing checks: plug sockets and light fittings for wear, the consumer unit for RCDs, and working smoke alarms. To test for an RCD look for the Test or T button, and pressing it should cut power to the circuits it protects; where there is no working RCD, use plug in RCDs on all sockets. An older consumer unit without RCDs or circuit breakers is not automatically unsafe, and only an EICR will say, but look for physical or thermal damage and discoloration. Electrics more than 50 years old should be checked and updated. Landlords in England and Scotland must have an EICR every five years; owner occupiers are recommended to have one every ten. Alarms: minimum one smoke alarm per floor with a heat detector in the kitchen, tested weekly.
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Energy Saving Trust
How to read and obtain an EPC. Certificates are valid for 10 years from the date of issue. Checkatrade pricing accurate as of November 2025 puts an EPC at £65 to £120. A property being sold or let must have one, and the fixed penalty charge for failing to provide one is £200. Walks through the certificate layout using a 2023 Scottish example, noting older certificates carry most of the same information in a different order. Last updated 8 May 2026.
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Financial Ombudsman Service
The ombudsman's own account of what it sees and how it decides, last updated 24 July 2023, which is a stronger citation than an insurer's marketing page. Confirms that buildings insurance typically responds to accidental damage, weather such as storms, flooding, ground movement such as subsidence, and underground pipes made from pitch fibre. Lists the recurring complaint types: repairs done but the problem not fixed; the insurer insisting on repair where the consumer wants replacement; the insurer deciding the sum insured on buildings or contents is not enough to cover the claim, which it names as underinsurance; the insurer saying the customer carelessly or deliberately failed to give the true rebuild cost of the home or replacement cost of contents and cancelling the policy on that basis; a replacement offered that is not the same as what was lost; and a cash settlement too small to have the repairs done. Links its separate approaches to accidental damage, building warranties, damage to underground pipes, flood damage, gradual damage, home emergency insurance and multiple-occupancy buildings insurance.
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Financial Ombudsman Service
Sets out what happens when an insurer says a homeowner gave wrong information, which is the mechanism behind most declined renovation-related claims, last updated 10 July 2026. Defines misrepresentation as information given carelessly, deliberately or recklessly that was incomplete or misleading, and non-disclosure as leaving out relevant information that was asked about. Lists the insurer's possible remedies: charge more for the policy, retrospectively apply a restriction so an ongoing or future claim is declined, settle a claim proportionately, or avoid the policy so the claim is declined outright. States the legal test the ombudsman applies is the insurer's obligations under the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, asking whether the questions were clear and specific, whether the consumer took reasonable care to answer correctly, whether the answer was incorrect or incomplete, and whether the insurer would have acted differently with the correct information. Confirms the complaint route: complain to the firm first, and if it does not send a final response letter within eight weeks, or the response is unsatisfactory, bring the complaint to the ombudsman, whose service is free.
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Financial Ombudsman Service
Explains the average clause, the mechanism that reduces a payout when a home is insured for less than its rebuild cost, last updated 10 July 2026. States that where a policy contains an average clause the insurer may use it so that the policyholder bears a proportion of any loss or damage if the item was insured for less than its replacement value, and that the insurer applies its own formula. Identifies the two grounds on which the ombudsman upholds such complaints: the insurer tried to apply an average clause that is not actually in the policy, and the insurer applied the average clause without ever having asked the consumer to estimate the full value of the buildings or contents. Also covers complaints where the insurer failed to ask the right question, giving the example of an application asking how much cover do you need when what the insurer wanted was the total value of everything in the home, and where the insurer did not make clear that pre-filled parts of an online form had to be checked for accuracy. Confirms the complaint route requires a formal complaint to the firm first, with the ombudsman available if no final response arrives within eight weeks.
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Furniture & Home Improvement Ombudsman / Dispute Resolution Ombudsman
The eligibility rules for taking a TrustMark registered business to the Ombudsman, in force since 1 September 2020. A complaint is accepted once the business has issued a final response, or once 12 weeks have passed since the first complaint without a satisfactory answer, and after any Scheme Provider ADR has been used. The business must have been TrustMark registered when the work was done and must remain registered through the ADR process. The claim must be for less than £10,000, excluding the purchase price of the goods or services, and must not be before a court, tribunal or other binding ADR. Complaints are refused where the trader is in administration or liquidation or has ceased trading, where the complainant is not a private individual, where a Scheme Provider resolution has already been accepted in full and final settlement, or where the referral is made more than 12 months after the final response letter. The service is free to the consumer and the decision, once accepted by the consumer, binds the business. Dispute Resolution Ombudsman is a full member of the Ombudsman Association and CTSI approved under the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015.
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HomeOwners Alliance
Basement conversion costs and constraints. Converting an existing dry cellar with no structural change £900 to £1,400 per m2. Excavation and underpinning £1,500 to £2,000 per m2, so a 40 m2 basement runs about £100,000 to £160,000. Adding a lightwell or extending beyond the footprint pushes rates to £2,500 to £3,000 per m2 and, at the top end, £5,000 to £7,500 per m2. Add about 20% for fees. Individual costs quoted: structural engineer £1,500 to £3,000, householder planning application £206 or £462 where a new unit of accommodation is proposed, party wall surveyor at least £750 for the owner and at least £700 per neighbour. Party wall notice is triggered by excavating within 3 metres of a neighbour's building and below the level of their foundations, or within 6 metres where a 45 degree line from the bottom of their foundations is intersected. Recommends a 2.4m finished ceiling height and warns at least 2m headroom is needed over the stairs.
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HomeOwners Alliance
Bathroom refurbishment budgets. The average new bathroom costs £6,000. Self managing the project typically lands between £3,000 and £6,000, with the advice to put the bulk of the budget into tiling and plumbing and sacrifice finishing detail. A cheap bathroom suite can be found for as little as £200, but accessories, shower fittings, taps, tiles and grouting can double the price. Fitting the bathroom yourself can save up to 60% of the cost, but gas and electrical work must go to a professional, and an electric shower must be installed by a registered electrician. A simple home sauna starts at around £5,000.
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HomeOwners Alliance
Which registers to check a trade against and what each actually guarantees. Covers Gas Safe for gas work, competent person schemes for electrics, FENSA and CERTASS for glazing, the Federation of Master Builders, and RIBA Chartered Practices, which must meet RIBA's stated standards of professional practice in quality, customer service and insurance and whose membership can be checked directly. Notes that roofing firms aligned with the NFRC can self certify their work as an all in one service to homeowners, with all domestic work carrying a 10 year warranty, searchable by postcode or name on the NFRC site. Also covers checking insurance, references and Companies House before committing.
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HomeOwners Alliance
Roof condition, life and repair costs. A well maintained stone slate roof can last 100 years or more; RICS warns the common belief that felt flat roof coverings last only 10 to 15 years is a misconception, that felt roofs of that age can go on performing if maintained and protected with gravel or solar reflective paint, and recommends inspecting a flat roof twice a year in spring and autumn plus after storms. Checkatrade repair costs for a 1 m2 area: flat roof £100, pitched clay tile £180, pitched concrete tile £140, pitched slate £170, rising to £1,465, £1,245 and £1,395 respectively where the felt is replaced too. Flat roof repair about £100 per m2. Replacement tiles from about £200, flashing repair from about £250 a metre. Extra joists for an overloaded roof structure £1,000 to £2,000, and a waterlogged and sagging roof structure £5,000 to £12,000. Scaffolding adds about £625 a week, a rooflight £800 to £1,000. Building control approval is not required where less than 25% of a roof is renewed, and is required above that.
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HomeOwners Alliance
Garage conversion costs and the headroom constraint. A 15 m2 conversion averages around £14,250, with a typical range of £8,500 to £20,000 depending on structural changes, plumbing and new services. Virgin Money estimates converting a garage into an ensuite bedroom can add 20% to a property's value. On dimensions, the finished floor needs to sit about 15cm above external ground level and around 2.2m to 2.4m of headroom is needed above it, so a low garage ceiling may have to be raised.
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HomeOwners Alliance
Costs and the permitted development envelope for a garden room. Modular buildings £2,000 to £30,000; bespoke £800 to £1,600 per m2. Professional construction typically takes 4 to 6 weeks, with a small shed sized room in one to two weeks. To stay within permitted development the building must be single storey with eaves no higher than 2.5m and an overall height no more than 4m for a dual pitched roof or 3m for any other roof, dropping to a 2.5m maximum height anywhere within 2m of a boundary, with no veranda, balcony or raised platform over 0.3m. Occasional use of a sofa bed is fine, but regular sleeping or a self contained annexe needs planning permission and building regulations approval.
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HomeOwners Alliance
A homeowner tendering procedure with the numbers attached. Aim for at least 3 quotes, which means shortlisting at least 5 builders to invite, since some will not respond. Distinguishes an estimate, an informal educated guess, from a quote, a written agreed price fixed unless the specification changes. Allow between two and four weeks for the tender period, confirm by phone who is bidding, and circulate every answer to all tenderers. Tender returns should include public and employers liability insurance evidence, health and safety policy and record, a bank reference, a professional reference such as from an architect, a customer reference, previous work, years established, and whether employees or subcontractors are used. For the contract: consider a 5% retention held to the end to cover snagging, name the contract period and set weekly liquidated damages, typically £250 to £500 a week on an extension, and list provisional sums for unforeseen work.
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HomeOwners Alliance
Costs, tax and value for a residential annexe. A new detached granny flat costs around £90,000 on average per Checkatrade, varying with size, specification and site. On council tax, an annexe occupied by a relative or by a resident of the main house can attract a 50% discount, to be confirmed with the local council. On value, building an annexe can raise the property's worth by 20% to 30% per Checkatrade, depending on size, finish and location. Also covers when planning permission and building regulations are triggered by self contained accommodation.
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HomeOwners Alliance
Window replacement process, cost and paperwork. Average price £500 to £3,200 per window depending on type, size and material. Installers usually take a deposit of 10% or 20% on order to buy the products and book the slot. Expect at least 3 to 4 windows fitted per day, longer for timber windows needing priming and painting. Windows fitted more than 10 years ago, even double glazed, are behind current glazing performance. A replacement FENSA or CERTASS certificate can be ordered by postcode from either scheme's website for around £25.
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HomeOwners Alliance
How a restrictive covenant can stop an extension even where planning permission is granted. Explains the practical safety valve: where an owner has been in breach for over 12 months without challenge and then wants to sell, restrictive covenant indemnity insurance should normally be available to protect what has been done. States that the conveyancing solicitor is responsible for identifying covenants, so a missed covenant can be taken to the Legal Ombudsman, which can order compensation up to a maximum award of £50,000.
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Leeds Beckett University
Two new European Standards for measuring aggregate heat loss from housing were published in 2024 and adopted in 34 countries, led by Professor David Johnston at Leeds Beckett with Professor Richard Fitton at the University of Salford. The standards are built on the Coheating Test developed at Leeds Beckett and, crucially, apply to new and existing real homes rather than laboratory test cells, so the thermal performance of housing can be measured and compared consistently across countries. The work took a decade. This is the standardisation behind the EN 17887 series used by Salford's Energy House Labs.
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Leeds Beckett University, Leeds Sustainability Institute
Coheating test results from 25 new build dwellings built to Part L1A 2006 or better, the study that put a number on the fabric performance gap. The mean measured whole building U-value was just over 1.6 times greater than predicted, and for individual dwellings the gap between measured and predicted fabric performance could exceed 100 per cent, varying with dwelling form and construction type. Context: dwellings account for just under 30 per cent of the UK's total CO2 emissions, against a national target of an 80 per cent cut by 2050 on 1990 levels; around 80 to 85 per cent of the dwellings that will be in use in 2050 already exist. The practical implication for a homeowner is that a design SAP figure or an EPC is a prediction, not a measurement, and a real house can lose over half as much heat again as the paperwork says.
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Leeds Beckett University, Leeds Sustainability Institute
Eight brick cores 100mm in diameter were taken from the outer leaf of solid walled homes across the UK (sites including Bedford, London and Loughborough) and lab tested, then modelled as a 110mm outer brick, 10mm air/mortar gap, 110mm inner brick, 10mm gypsum plaster wall. Results: modelled U-values of the uninsulated solid walls ranged from 1.6 to 2.6 W/m2K with an average of 2.1 W/m2K, against CIBSE Guide A book values averaging 1.7 W/m2K and ranging 1.4 to 2.0 W/m2K, so real bricks lost noticeably more heat than the standard assumption. EPCs assume a single default solid wall U-value of 1.7 W/m2K. Six of the eight homes carried surface condensation risks. Simulated moisture content of the inner brickwork varied between 0.1 and 5.8 per cent, meaning some bricks are at far higher risk of moisture accumulation than others, which is why an identical insulation detail can succeed in one house and fail in another.
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MoneyHelper (Money and Pensions Service)
Four step method for funding a renovation from the government backed money guidance body. Step one: list everything wanted and ask for written quotes rather than estimates, drawing the distinction that a quotation is an agreed fixed price while an estimate is an approximate price that can change; get at least three quotes, compare them in detail, check reviews, and insist on a written costed agreement, with any extra work priced in a written estimate and a revised costed schedule before it is authorised. Step two: pay from savings where possible while keeping a reserve for unexpected costs. Step three: compare the total cost of borrowing over the shortest period, not just the headline rate, and note that a 0% purchase or balance transfer credit card suits small jobs, that tradespeople may not take cards, and that card purchases of parts can attract Section 75 protection. Step four: use the EPC to identify improvements, and check the Warm Homes local grant, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme for heat pumps and biomass, Warmer Homes Scotland (owned or privately rented for at least a year plus qualifying benefits, with an interest free loan alternative), and the Welsh Nest scheme. States that owner occupiers and private tenants with a household income below £23,000 may qualify for grants of up to £7,500, or even £10,000, towards insulation, heating and window glazing.
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NHS
Health background for anyone disturbing asbestos in a renovation. Asbestosis is a rare but serious incurable lung condition caused by asbestos exposure, with treatment aimed only at symptoms. The NHS dates asbestos as a building material used from the 1950s to the 1990s and identifies building and construction work in that period as the main exposure route. Symptoms are shortness of breath, persistent cough, wheezing, extreme fatigue, chest or shoulder pain and, in advanced cases, clubbed fingertips, and it can take 20 to 30 years from exposure before any symptoms appear, with some people having none. Notes that compensation may be claimable.
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Northern Powergrid
Northern Powergrid's published indicative connection costs and timescales, all excluding VAT. Service alteration (moving an existing supply): quotation guaranteed standard 5 days, actual average 4 days, prices from £661 single phase, average £1,000 single phase underground, average 6 weeks to connect after payment. One standard (single domestic) connection: quotation standard 5 days, average 3 days, from £1,300, average £2,500 where no LV mains cable is required, 6 weeks to connect after payment. Up to four standard connections: quotation standard 15 days, average 6 days, from £6,800, average £7,900, 10 weeks. Over four standard connections (based on six premises): quotation standard 25 days, average 27 days, from £4,100, average £14,100, 23 weeks. Unmetered connections: quotation standard 25 days, average 9 days, from £700, average £8,400, 12 weeks. Typical small business connection: from £1,900 for a single premises, average £18,100, 24 weeks. Typical large business connection: from £2,700, average £78,500, 50 weeks. EHV connections: price on application, roughly 2 years to connect.
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Northumbrian Water
The ownership map that decides who pays for a drainage problem. The homeowner owns private drains within the property boundary, including all internal plumbing, gutters, downpipes, gullies, soil stacks, manhole covers and underground pipework serving only that property; private sewage treatment works and septic tanks; shared drains serving flats, such as Tyneside flats or a block within a single boundary, which stay in the owners' shared ownership; and surface water sewers that do not connect to a public sewer, for example draining to a watercourse or soakaway. Northumbrian Water owns all public sewers, usually under roads and footpaths, and most shared sewers where drains from several neighbouring properties join before reaching the public sewer. Since 1 October 2011, under the Private Sewer Transfer Regulations 2011, most existing shared private sewers and lateral drains outside property boundaries transferred to the water company, so a pipe shared with neighbours or running beyond the boundary is often theirs; properties built after 2011 generally stay with the homeowner or developer. The local authority owns highway gullies and drains, the grated openings at the road edge. Reporting line 0345 717 1100.
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Openreach
The commercial rules for getting a new or altered property connected. Openreach installs Full Fibre free of charge for sites with 20 or more premises, and asks for a contribution on sites of 1 to 19 premises, which is the band a self-build or a small conversion falls into. Full Fibre is the default for all new build sites: any plot connected to copper infrastructure instead is charged a flat rate of £2,500 per plot, and since 15 November 2021 Openreach New Sites no longer offers additional copper purely for service lines. Commercial-only sites of 20 or more units also get Full Fibre free. Building regulations now mandate gigabit-ready telecoms infrastructure during construction of new homes, in force in England from 26 December 2022, Scotland from 1 January 2025 and Wales from 1 July 2025. Options beyond FTTP include Ethernet Access Direct via the Network in Advance offering.
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Openreach
The lead time and the money. Register the site at least eight weeks ahead of the site start date, and at least six months before broadband is wanted at the first property. Residential developments with more than 19 plots pay nothing: Openreach installs Fibre to the Premises free. Residential developments of 1 to 19 plots carry a maximum developer contribution for mandatory FTTP of £2,000 per plot; where the true cost exceeds £2,000 per plot Openreach sets out the excess and offers the option to pay it. A Service on Demand payment applies to sites with more than 11 plots. Registration needs the number and type of plots (houses or flats), whether the site is phased or part of a larger development, unique plot numbers, floor plans for every floor including plot numbers and building entrances, a schedule of accommodation, and for 20 or more plots the order of build. Building Regulations 2010 changes require gigabit capable infrastructure in all new homes in England.
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Royal Horticultural Society
Identification, spread and disposal of Japanese knotweed on a renovation site. Stems are bamboo like with reddish purple speckling, conspicuous nodes and hollow centres, usually reaching about 2m (6 and a half feet) by late summer; leaves are spade shaped with flat bases, about 14cm (5 and a half inches) long, set in a zig zag along the stem, with creamy white flower clusters in late summer and early autumn. Rhizomes are thick and woody with an orange layer under the dark brown skin, commonly extending 1m (3 and a third feet) or more down, and a fragment as small as 1cm can grow into a new plant, so digging and careless disposal are the main spread routes; rhizomes can lie dormant in soil for many years. It is listed on Schedule 9 Section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, so planting or causing it to grow in the wild is an offence carrying fines and imprisonment, and it and any soil containing it are controlled waste under the Environmental Protection Act duty of care regulations, requiring the Environment Agency to be informed, a registered waste carrier, an authorised disposal site and waste transfer permits. On sale and purchase, its presence must be declared on the TA6 form and lenders typically require a professional eradication management plan with a transferable insurance backed guarantee, usually supplied by the seller before completion. Glyphosate based weedkiller is the practical chemical control for a home gardener.
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Scottish Water
Scottish Water is a statutory consultee on planning applications: when outline or full planning is submitted the local authority passes the application to Scottish Water, which along with other public bodies may be asked to comment within 21 days. It advises designing both the water supply and public sewer connections as early in the process as possible. Where a proposal affects existing infrastructure, Scottish Water may recommend a slight change to the plans to avoid building over its pipework, or require the pipework to be diverted so it can continue to access and maintain the network. 24 hour reporting line 0800 0778 778.
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Severn Trent Water
How to get the asset plans that decide whether a build-over application is needed. Water and sewer pipes sit on separate maps, so each dataset is downloaded and charged for separately, with a discount for buying both together; maps are supplied through DigDat, which charges because it overlays detailed utility plans on Ordnance Survey mapping under licence and maintains the asset records. Map charges are set out in the annually updated Charging Arrangement Document. Eligible organisations such as councils, utility companies and government bodies can apply for free statutory access, conditional on proving their role and on not charging the public or reselling the data, which is why a homeowner cannot get the same free access. Severn Trent's Asset Protection team handles planned work near pipes, development queries, ownership questions, insurer-raised issues, sewer defect assessments and subsidence claims.
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SGN (Scotland and Southern Gas Networks)
Two points a homeowner rarely anticipates. First, moving a gas meter can break a smart meter's wireless connectivity: SGN will alter the supply pipe and move the meter, but if connectivity is lost the energy supplier may need to visit to re-establish it and that visit may be chargeable, so the supplier should be told about the plans before the alteration is booked. Second, SGN runs a Help to Heat scheme offering free or discounted new connections to households struggling to pay energy bills and keep their home warm, with an online eligibility check. The same route covers new connections, alterations and disconnections for household and business customers, all quotable online, and the page explains the meter point reference number (MPRN) used to identify a gas supply.
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SP Energy Networks
Confirms a domestic EV charge point can be connected, but that an ENA application form must be completed through the industry Connecting to the Networks portal before or at installation; once SP Energy Networks receives that notification it contacts the customer to discuss requirements. The company publishes a low carbon technology customer leaflet in English and Welsh covering the same journey. Practical point for a homeowner: the notification is made through the national ENA route rather than direct to the network operator, and the installer normally submits it.
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SP Energy Networks
The notification route for a domestic heat pump, which is a connect-then-notify process rather than an application. Start by asking an accredited heat pump installer to confirm the electricity supply is adequate; provided the internal wiring, the supply and the cut-out are all satisfactory, the heat pump can simply be installed. After installation the customer, or the installer on their behalf, notifies SP Energy Networks by completing a form and emailing it to lctapplicationnorth@spenergynetworks.co.uk for Central and Southern Scotland or lctapplicationsouth@spenergynetworks.co.uk for Merseyside, Cheshire, North Wales and North Shropshire. SP Energy Networks needs the notification to manage network demand and keep supplies secure. Context given: the UK Government target of up to 600,000 heat pumps installed per year by 2028 as part of Net Zero by 2050, with the Scottish Government targeting 2045. Three types are covered, air source, ground source and hybrid.
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Thames Water
What drives the price of a new water connection: the size of the pipe being laid, which is 25mm or 32mm for a house though commercial properties need larger, and the distance from the property boundary to the nearest water main, which is estimated from a site plan bought from the local authority or Thames Water's property searches team. Charges cover laying new pipework from the main to the boundary only, are updated on 1 April each year, and are split into a connection charge and a pipe-laying charge. Ofwat publishes the median UK connection charge as a benchmark, though costs in and around London run higher. Barrier pipe may be specified where contamination is possible, and the charging tables carry separate barrier and non-barrier sections; typical locations named are near garage blocks, petrol stations, cemeteries, railways and industrial sites. For a 25mm external (20mm internal) connection a manifold connection may be cheaper. Lead pipework belonging to Thames Water is replaced free of charge with the same diameter up to 25mm. Signs of an unsuspected shared supply with a neighbour: the stopcock is in a communal area, or flow drops at peak times such as 7 to 8am or children's bedtime.
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Thames Water
Lead in water pipes has been banned since the 1970s, so a home built after 1970, or one fully re-piped since 1970, is unlikely to have lead. The mains themselves are not lead and there is virtually no lead in water leaving the treatment works; the risk is the supply pipe to the property or internal plumbing. Identification test for a homeowner: unpainted lead pipe is dull grey, joints are rounded and swollen where two pipes meet, a scratch reveals shiny silver metal, and tapping gives a dull thud rather than the clear ring of copper or iron. Look at the pipe feeding the internal stop valve, typically under the kitchen sink, behind kitchen units or in the understairs cupboard. Thames Water doses most of its water with a small amount of phosphate, which coats the pipe like limescale and lowers dissolved lead; it says that dose is around 500 times lower than the phosphate level in milk. Homeowners are warned not to disturb lead pipework because that raises lead content. Where samples show elevated lead the company will only replace its own communications pipe; the customer-side pipe is the owner's, though a lead replacement scheme is offered. Sampling line 0800 316 9800.