The handover pack: what you should receive when the work is done
Eight documents, all easy to obtain on the day and awkward to obtain later. This is the same list a buyer’s conveyancer will ask for in ten years’ time, which is why assembling it while the scaffolding is still up is the cheapest thing you will ever do.
Collect it on the day, not when you need it.
Every document below is straightforward to obtain while the installer is still on site and still trading. Each becomes progressively harder afterwards, and some become nearly impossible if the company fails.
It is also, near enough, the exact list a buyer’s conveyancer will ask for when you sell.
The eight documents
| Document | Why it matters | Who else holds it |
|---|---|---|
| MCS certificate | Required in practice for SEG and most grants | MCS Installations Database |
| Building regulations compliance certificate | The electrical work is normally notifiable | The competent person scheme, and the local authority |
| Electrical installation certificate | Evidence the circuit was designed, built and tested | The installer’s scheme |
| G98 or G99 notification | The network operator must know the system exists | Your DNO |
| Manufacturer warranties | Modules, inverter, mounting, battery | The manufacturers |
| Workmanship warranty | The installer’s own promise | Nobody — it dies with the company |
| Insurance-backed guarantee | What makes the workmanship warranty survive | The insurer |
| Structural assessment | That someone confirmed the roof takes the load | The installer, or the engineer |
The third column is the important one. Six of the eight are held independently, which is why a missing document is usually recoverable — and why the two that are not (the workmanship warranty and, if never issued, the IBG) are the ones to secure on the day.
Checks worth doing at handover
Ten minutes while somebody who understands the system is still standing in your house.
Photograph the serial numbers of the modules and the inverter, and check the model numbers against the datasheets you were quoted. Substitution is easiest to detect now.
Note the generation meter reading, photographed with the date. It is your baseline for proving performance later.
Confirm monitoring access works on your own device, with your own login rather than the installer’s.
Ask to be shown the isolators — DC and AC — and what to do if the system faults or you need it off.
Ask what the inverter is set to, including any export limit the DNO required.
Walk the roof line from the ground and photograph the array. Useful later for any question about layout or damage.
Ask what maintenance, if any, is expected, and what would void the warranties.
Then, in the following weeks
Register for a SEG tariff. It does not happen automatically, it is a separate arrangement with a supplier, and you will likely need the MCS certificate and an export MPAN. Ofgem’s guidance requires the export to be metered by a meter capable of half-hourly measurement.
Chase anything that has not arrived after a month. Particularly the MCS certificate and the building regulations certificate.
Register manufacturer warranties if registration is required — some are, and some require the installer to have done it.
Store everything with your deeds, digitally and on paper. This is the single highest-value five minutes in the whole process, because the alternative is reconstructing it under transaction pressure years later.
The array will still be there in fifteen years. The company that fitted it may not be, and neither will your memory of who they were.
The documents are what connect the equipment on your roof to the certifications, warranties and notifications that make it lawful, insurable and saleable. That is why this list is identical to the one on selling a house with solar panels.
If something is missing
Work through the independent holders before concluding it is lost:
- DNO notification — ask your network operator directly
- Building regulations — ask the competent person scheme the installer belonged to, then the local authority’s building control records
- MCS certificate — MCS holds the record
- Manufacturer warranties — go to the manufacturer with serial numbers and the install date
If the work was genuinely never notified under the building regulations, that is unregulated building work, and the routes are regularisation or indemnity insurance — with an order of operations that matters.
If the installer has ceased trading, this page covers what survives and what does not.
Sources
- MIS 3002: The Solar PV Standard, issue 6.0
- The Building Regulations 2010, regulation 12
- Engineering Recommendation G98, issue 2 (10 March 2025) Free to download.
- Smart Export Guarantee: Guidance for Generators
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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