Certificates of Compliance in South Africa
Four certificates come up again and again on South African property: electrical, gas, electric fence and plumbing. They are issued by different people, under different rules, and only some of them expire. This is what each one covers, who may sign it, when you need one and who is supposed to keep it afterwards.
The short answer
Four certificates, four different rules
Whether it expires and whether a sale needs one. Pick yours for who may sign it and what it covers.
Electrical CoC
2 years at transfer
At a sale: required
The detailGas CoC
No fixed period
At a sale: required if gas is fitted
The detailElectric fence certificate
No fixed period
At a sale: required if a fence is fitted
The detailPlumbing CoC
Per transaction
At a sale: depends on the municipality
The detailThis is a plain English summary, not legal advice. Regulations are amended, municipalities differ, and your conveyancer or insurer may ask for more than the law requires. Check the current position with a registered person in that trade, your municipality and your insurer.
Electrical Certificate of Compliance
- Expiry
- 2 years at transfer
- At a property sale
- Required
Which law. Electrical Installation Regulations, 2009, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993
If this is your tradeWhat it covers
How long it lasts
Who may issue it
When you need one
- A new electrical installation
- An addition or alteration to an existing one, where the certificate covers the changed work
- Transfer of a property, where the seller must hand over a valid certificate
A certificate covers the installation as it was on the day it was inspected. Work done afterwards is not covered by it, which is why an addition needs its own.
Gas Certificate of Conformity
- Expiry
- No fixed period
- At a property sale
- Required if gas is fitted
Which law. Pressure Equipment Regulations, 2009, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993
If this is your tradeWhat it covers
How long it lasts
Who may issue it
When you need one
- A new gas installation, including a gas hob, braai, geyser or heater
- Any alteration to an existing installation
- Transfer of a property, where an installation is present
- Often at the insurer's request, after an installation or a claim
It is a Certificate of Conformity, not Compliance. Everyone calls it a gas CoC, and the paperwork says conformity.
Electric Fence System Certificate
- Expiry
- No fixed period
- At a property sale
- Required if a fence is fitted
Which law. Electrical Machinery Regulations, 2011, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993
If this is your tradeWhat it covers
How long it lasts
Who may issue it
When you need one
- A new electric fence system
- An addition or alteration to an existing one
- Transfer of a property where an electric fence is installed
This is separate from the electrical CoC, and a property with a fence needs both. It is the one most often missed until a week before transfer.
Plumbing Certificate of Compliance
- Expiry
- Per transaction
- At a property sale
- Depends on the municipality
Which law. Municipal by-law, not national regulation. The City of Cape Town's Water By-law is the best known example, requiring a certificate on transfer of a property.
If this is your tradeWhat it covers
How long it lasts
Who may issue it
When you need one
- Transfer of a property, in municipalities that require one
- A new water installation or a geyser replacement, depending on the municipality
- Where an insurer or a bank asks for one
This is the one that differs most around the country. Do not assume what is true in Cape Town is true where you are, in either direction.
After the job
Who is supposed to keep it
This is the question behind most of the searching, because it only surfaces years later, when nobody can find the thing.
The owner
For electrical work, regulation 7(1) puts the certificate in the hands of the user or lessor of the installation, which in a normal sale means the owner. The same holds in practice for the others: the certificate belongs with the property, not with the person who did the work.
The person who issued it
A registered person keeps their own copy and their records of the test results. If a homeowner has lost theirs, the installer who signed it is the first place to ask, which is only useful if anybody can remember who that was.
The conveyancer, during a sale
The attorney handling transfer collects the certificates for the file. They do not keep them for you afterwards, and a copy in a transfer file from 2019 is not something anybody will dig out for you in 2027.
Where InstallPass comes into this
An InstallPass tag on the unit holds its certificate with it. The installer attaches the CoC when they register the unit, and anyone who scans the tag years later gets the document, the install date, the warranty and who to call, without anybody having to remember a filing system.
FAQ
Questions people actually ask
Go deeper
The rest of the detail
Electrical CoC: what it covers and how long it lasts
The head-term version of the electrical section below, in detail.
Gas Certificate of Conformity: who can issue one
Why an LPGSASA registration is the thing that matters, and what gets checked.
Who keeps the CoC after the job is done
Installer, homeowner or conveyancer, and what to do when it has gone missing.
Plumbing CoC records: what to keep
For plumbers: what belongs on file for every compliant job.
Turning CoCs and DB upgrades into repeat work
For electricians: the certificate as the start of a relationship.
Warranty claims without the paperwork chase
What to record at install so a claim years later is not an archaeology project.
Selling a house: the paperwork buyers ask for
For homeowners: everything a conveyancer will want, in one list.
EV charger installs: what to record on the day
A new installation that needs its own certificate, and what else to keep.
From the blog
More on compliance and warranties
Electrical CoC: what it covers, what it does not, and how long it lasts
The two-year rule, what a certificate actually certifies, and why work done after it was signed is not covered by it.
Gas Certificate of Conformity: who can issue one, and when you need it
Why an LPGSASA registration is the thing that matters, what gets checked, and why it is called conformity rather than compliance.
Who keeps the CoC after the job: installer, homeowner or conveyancer?
The certificate belongs with the property, not the person who did the work. What that means in practice, and what to do when it has gone missing.
In their words
What installers say about it
The same story in every trade: a tag that stays on the unit is what brings the next job back to the person who fitted it, years after the invoice was paid.
Three geysers I fitted in 2023 came back to me this winter instead of going to whoever was cheapest on Google. The tag was still on the pipe and they scanned it.
The rating plate photo doing the typing is the part my guys actually use. Before this, half the job cards came back with the serial number missing.
A customer phoned about a warranty claim from two years ago. I had the certificate of compliance and the install date on screen before she finished the sentence.
Keep the certificate with the unit.
Attach the CoC when you register the install, and it is one scan away for as long as the unit is on the wall. Fourteen days free, no card needed.
No card needed · 10 free self-print tags