London Heroes — home

Trusted heating & boilers in London

Boilers fail at the worst moment because winter is when they work hardest. Repairs, annual servicing and central heating work — gas work is only accepted where an appropriately verified Gas Safe registered professional is available, and you can see the registration on the Hero's Passport.

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The London Heroes standard

  • Verified Heroes

  • Live Hero Passport

  • Secure payments

  • Local & accountable

What we can help with

  • Boiler repair, service and fault finding
  • Boiler installation and replacement
  • Central heating repairs and installation
  • Radiators, valves, pumps and controls
  • Thermostats and heating controls
  • Hot water and immersion issues
  • Landlord gas safety inspections (CP12)

Popular heating & boilers services

Also covered: Boiler installation and replacement · Central heating installation and repairs · Radiator installation and valve replacement · Heating pumps and controls · Thermostat installation · Immersion heaters and hot water cylinders · Power flushing— describe the job in your request and we’ll route it correctly.

Recognise the symptom?

The law on heating & boilers

Statutory basis

Heating work is regulated differently depending on fuel type. Gas-fired heating (the majority of London homes) falls under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 and must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer (see the gas trade record). Oil-fired and solid-fuel heating, and renewable heating technologies (heat pumps, biomass), have no equivalent standalone statutory register naming a specific body — instead they are covered by the general Building Regulations competent-person-scheme framework, under which an installer registered with a government-authorised scheme (e.g. OFTEC for oil/solid fuel/renewables) can self-certify compliance instead of the work being separately checked by local authority building control.

Source — checked 21 July 2026

Who may legally do this work

OFTEC describes itself as: 'a trade association for liquid fuel heating equipment manufacturers and training providers. We also run a competent persons scheme for businesses and technicians who are approved to install and maintain oil, solid fuel, electrical and renewable heating equipment.' This is a voluntary competent-person scheme (government-recognised for Building Regulations self-certification purposes), not a statutory licence in the way Gas Safe registration is for gas work — there is no legal requirement to use an OFTEC-registered technician for non-gas heating work in the way there is a legal requirement to use a Gas Safe engineer for gas work, though using an unregistered installer means the work must instead be separately notified to, and inspected by, local authority building control.

Source — checked 21 July 2026

If you own and live in the property

  • Installing a heat pump (air source or ground source) that is notifiable under Building Regulations must either be self-certified by an installer registered with an appropriate competent person scheme, or separately notified to and signed off by local authority building control — the same 'competent person scheme or building control' choice that applies to other notifiable building work.

    Source — checked 21 July 2026

  • To claim the government's Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant toward a heat pump (currently £7,500 for an air-source or ground-source heat pump, or £5,000 for a biomass boiler, administered by Ofgem), 'your business must be certified to install the relevant technology under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS)' — this is a funding-eligibility requirement, not a general legal requirement to install a heat pump, but it is a practical constraint on which installer a homeowner can use if they want the grant. Ofgem's guidance was updated for applications made on or after 28 April 2026, and the grant for off-gas-grid oil/LPG properties was due to increase to £9,000 from 21 July 2026 — the day this research was carried out.

    Source — checked 21 July 2026

If you’re a landlord

  • Where a rental property is heated by gas, the landlord's gas safety duties described in the gas trade record apply in full (annual Gas Safe check, Landlord Gas Safety Record, 28-day provision to tenants). No separate, heating-specific statutory duty distinct from the general gas safety and electrical safety regimes was found for landlords of non-gas heating systems (e.g. oil boilers, electric storage heaters, heat pumps) in the sources checked — such systems would instead fall under the landlord's general electrical safety duties or, for oil, under general product/installation safety expectations without an equivalent named statutory scheme.

    Source — checked 21 July 2026

Certificates & records

  • Building Regulations Compliance Certificate for heating installation (gas, oil, or renewable)

    Who must hold it:
    Homeowner or landlord who has had a new heating system or boiler installed
    Frequency:
    One-off per installation

    For gas boilers, Gas Safe Register issues (and can provide replacement copies of) the Building Regulations compliance certificate. For oil, solid fuel and renewable heating, OFTEC's competent person scheme performs the equivalent function, including offering 'Order a building compliance certificates' for its registered installers' work.

    Source — checked 21 July 2026

Commonly misunderstood

  • Myth vs fact

    Myth: Consumers often assume all 'heating engineers' are subject to the same statutory register as gas engineers.

    Fact: Only gas work is subject to the statutory Gas Safe Register requirement under GSIUR. Oil, solid fuel, electric and renewable heating installers are covered only by voluntary (though government-recognised) competent person schemes such as OFTEC or MCS — there is no equivalent legal prohibition on an unregistered person carrying out this work, provided any Building-Regulations-notifiable element is instead handled through local authority building control.

    Source — checked 21 July 2026

Penalties for non-compliance

  • No heating-specific penalty regime distinct from the general gas safety penalties or general Building Regulations non-compliance consequences was found. Gov.uk's general building regulations guidance states: 'You may have to correct the work or pay a fine if building regulations are not followed,' and separately that 'the person doing the work could be prosecuted and fined if they do not comply with building regulations,' without a heating-specific figure.

    Source — checked 21 July 2026

How to check who’s legally allowed to do this

For gas-fired heating, use the Gas Safe Register (as in the gas trade record). For oil, solid fuel and renewable heating installers, OFTEC provides a 'Find an OFTEC registered heating Technician' search tool. For heat pump installers specifically (including for Boiler Upgrade Scheme eligibility), installers must be MCS-certified.

oftec.org

Source — checked 21 July 2026

Medium confidence

Some detail in this section could not be independently confirmed against a primary source at the time of checking — treat exact figures and edge cases as indicative, not guaranteed, and confirm anything material before relying on it.

Could not establish whether there is any statutory (as opposed to scheme-based) restriction specifically on who may install non-gas heating systems in rented property beyond the general electrical safety and Building Regulations frameworks — this record does not separately restate the electrical safety duties, which would also apply to electric heating systems.

Checked against the sources cited above on 21 July 2026. Rules and guidance change — always confirm anything material against the official source before acting on it.

How it works

  1. 1

    Tell us what you need

    Describe the job in plain English — add a photo if it helps. It takes about two minutes.

  2. 2

    We match a verified Hero

    We review your request and connect you with a suitable verified professional where available.

  3. 3

    Job done, on the record

    Follow progress on your job's live timeline, pay securely, and leave a review tied to the real job.

Pricing, honestly

You approve a price before work starts — either a fixed price for well-defined jobs or a clear quote after assessment. Payment goes through the platform, so what was agreed and what was paid are always on the record.

Areas we cover

London Heroes covers all 33 London boroughs around the clock. Choose yours for the local picture, including what your council requires from landlords.

Heating & boilers questions, answered

How do I know your engineers are really Gas Safe registered?
Every gas-qualified Hero has a public Hero Passport showing their Gas Safe registration, when we last checked it against the register, and when it expires. You can also ask to see the engineer's Gas Safe ID card on arrival — a genuine engineer expects you to.
How often should my boiler be serviced?
Annually — it keeps the manufacturer warranty valid, catches faults before winter, and confirms the boiler is burning safely and efficiently.
My radiators are cold at the bottom — what does that mean?
Usually sludge build-up in the system. It's fixable — a power flush or magnetic filter typically restores performance — and much cheaper than the pump or boiler damage it causes if ignored.

Related services

Ready when you are

Two minutes to describe the job. We’ll take it from there.

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