When Your Installer Goes Bust: Deposits, Warranties and Unfinished Work

When an installation company goes into administration, the household's position depends less on the failure itself than on what was in place before it: whether the deposit was protected, whether an insurance-backed guarantee or a financial protection product covers the work, and whether the contract was paid for on credit. The company's own promises are the weakest part of the picture. A workmanship guarantee written by a firm that has stopped trading is worth what the firm is worth, which is usually nothing.

The strongest protection available on certified renewable work is the MCS financial protection product. MCS states that approved products give at least six years of cover from the moment of installation, with the excess capped at 250 pounds, and that they respond where a consumer cannot secure a resolution through their original installer¹. The cover is triggered by bankruptcy, by retirement, by a refusal to remedy an installation issue, and by a failure in design, so it reaches further than formal insolvency alone¹.

For work delivered under a government scheme, the installer's registration status does much of the work. Boiler Upgrade Scheme installations must be carried out by MCS-certified installers who are members of a consumer code approved by the Secretary of State, and complaints about installation quality, workmanship or installer behaviour go first to the installer, then to the installer's consumer code, which will be HIES or RECC, or to MCS installation quality complaints². That route exists precisely because the installer may not.

What administration actually means for your installation

Administration is a formal insolvency process, and it changes who controls the company rather than what the company owes. The practical consequence for a household is that the person who sold the work, quoted for it and promised to return for snagging no longer has authority to make decisions about it. Insolvency practitioner firms are regulated by the Insolvency Service, so the identity of the practitioner handling the case is a matter of public record rather than something the household has to guess at⁴.

What survives the failure is the paperwork. On a certified installation, the certification body is the body that oversees the work of the installer, and that oversight does not end when the installer does⁶. Where the work was notified through a competent person scheme, the installer should have given notice to the building control authority that commissioning had been carried out in accordance with the approved document, and a certificate showing the work was done by a registered installer is issued on completion⁷. Those documents are the household's evidence that the installation was done to standard, and they matter when a second firm is asked to take the work on.

What does not survive is the commercial relationship. A firm in administration cannot be instructed to return, cannot honour a labour guarantee in any meaningful sense, and cannot be pursued for a remedy it has no funds to provide. The distinction that matters for a household is between the manufacturer's warranty on the equipment, which is a separate contract with a company that is still trading, and the workmanship guarantee on the installation, which was a promise by the failed firm. The first usually stands. The second usually does not, unless something was put in place to back it.

First steps: find out who is handling the insolvency

The first task is to establish the facts of the failure in writing. Insolvency practitioner firms are regulated by the Insolvency Service, and the practitioner appointed to a case is the correct recipient for a proof of debt covering money paid for work not done⁴. A household that paid a deposit and received nothing should register as a creditor, even though unsecured creditors in an insolvency typically recover little or nothing. The registration is what preserves the position if any distribution is made.

The second task is to establish what protection was attached to the contract. Where the installer was MCS-certified, the certification route is the starting point, and the MCS financial protection product is designed for exactly this situation: a financial safety net for consumers who are unable to secure a resolution to an installation issue via their original installer, supporting the cost of remediation¹. Where the work was grant-funded, the scheme's own complaint route applies. For Boiler Upgrade Scheme work, a complaint about installation quality, workmanship or installer behaviour goes to the installer first, then to the installer's consumer code, HIES or RECC, or to MCS installation quality complaints².

The third task is to gather the documents that a claim will need. On a Welsh Government scheme, redemption of an installation grant requires the borrower or Retrofit Coordinator to confirm satisfactory installation by the specified installer, confirm that lodgements have been submitted to TrustMark, confirm receipt of all the required documents, confirm the other eligibility requirements are met, and provide a dated copy or image of the installer invoices⁹. That list is a useful checklist of what a household should already hold: the invoice, the lodgement confirmation, the certification and the handover documents.

Where a household is looking for a firm to complete the work, a competent person register such as TrustMark is the recognised route to finding an installer who will assess the circumstances and property and identify suitable measures¹⁰. It is advisable to contact an installer who can provide the necessary advice, preferably one who belongs to the relevant competent person scheme¹¹.

Deposits and advance payments: how they should have been protected

Deposit protection in this sector is not a single statutory scheme. It is a set of contractual and code-based arrangements, and whether a household is covered depends on which one applied to the contract it signed.

The clearest statutory model is the tenancy deposit scheme, which exists for the purpose of safeguarding tenancy deposits paid in connection with shorthold and assured tenancies and facilitating the resolution of disputes arising in connection with such deposits¹². That is a different area of law, but it illustrates the principle: a deposit is only protected if a scheme holds it. Where a deposit is held under an authorised scheme, being unable to obtain confirmation from the scheme administrator that the deposit is held in accordance with the scheme is itself a ground for an application under section 214¹². The lesson for energy work is that a household should be able to obtain written confirmation of where its money is held, and should treat the absence of that confirmation as a warning.

On the Welsh Government's Green Homes Wales scheme, the position is explicit: the borrower is responsible for paying the installation costs, including any deposit or ongoing costs, irrespective of the grant amounts available under the Installation Grant letter⁹. The grant does not stand behind the deposit. That is a useful statement of the general rule across funded schemes: public money supports the measure, not the household's advance payment to a private firm.

Where a deposit is protected, it is usually protected through the installer's consumer code membership or through an insurance-backed guarantee. Membership of HIES or RECC is a condition of MCS certification, so a certified installer is bound by a code that covers deposits among other things³. The code's scope includes marketing, pre-contractual information, quotations, deposits, contracts, guarantees and after-sales service¹³. That is the hook on which a deposit complaint hangs when a member firm fails.

Workmanship guarantees that survive the installer

A workmanship guarantee is only as good as the entity standing behind it. When the installer is the entity, the guarantee dies with the company. Three things can keep a workmanship promise alive after a failure.

The first is an insurance-backed guarantee, which transfers the risk to an insurer rather than to the installer. The second is a financial protection product attached to certification, which is the model MCS has adopted. The third is the manufacturer's warranty on the equipment, which is a separate contract and is not affected by the installer's failure, though it covers the product rather than the labour.

MCS describes its approved financial protection products as providing remediation for issues with an installation when resolution cannot be secured through the original installer, with a simple claims route, and with products backed by adequate financial reserves and independently audited¹. The cover period is at least six years from the moment of installation, and the excess is capped at 250 pounds¹. The triggers are broad: protection applies even if the installer goes bankrupt, is retired, refuses to carry out work to remedy an installation issue, or there is a failure in design¹.

That breadth matters because installer failure is not always formal insolvency. A sole trader who retires, a firm that simply stops answering, and a company that disputes a defect and refuses to return are all covered situations under the MCS description, not just a company in administration¹. A household that has been told the installer has "ceased trading" without a formal process should not assume the protection is unavailable.

The gap in the table is the one households most often fall into: a workmanship guarantee with nothing behind it. Where a firm was not certified, or was certified but the work fell outside the protected scope, the guarantee is a promise from a company that no longer exists.

MCS financial protection products: at least six years' cover with a 250 pound capped excess

The MCS financial protection product is the most concrete protection available on certified renewable installation work in the UK, and its terms are worth stating precisely because they are the terms a household will rely on years after the installer has gone.

Cover runs for at least six years from the moment of installation¹. The excess is capped at 250 pounds¹. The product responds where a consumer is unable to secure a resolution to an installation issue via their original installer, and it supports the cost of remediation¹. Claims go through a simple claims route, and the products are backed by adequate financial reserves and independently audited¹. Financial protection products are now available¹.

The trigger list is the part that decides most claims. Protection applies if the installer goes bankrupt, is retired, refuses to carry out work to remedy an installation issue, or there is a failure in design¹. A household whose installer has stopped trading should therefore check which of those descriptions fits, because "retired" and "refuses to remedy" are both named, and neither requires a formal insolvency.

The six year period is longer than most workmanship guarantees offered by installers themselves, and it is the reason certification status matters at the point of sale rather than only at the point of failure. A household that chose an uncertified installer has no route into this product, whatever the installer promised verbally.

Consumer codes: RECC and HIES and how they help when a member fails

The two consumer codes that matter for home energy installation work are the Renewable Energy Consumer Code and the HIES scheme, and both are approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute. Membership of HIES or RECC is a condition of MCS certification, and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme guidance states plainly that a condition of MCS certification is membership to HIES or RECC³. Installers working with consumers must be MCS-certified and members of a consumer code approved by the Secretary of State².

The Renewable Energy Consumer Code was formed in 2006 and is sponsored and run by Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd, known as REAL¹³. It sets out the standards applicable to the selling or leasing of small-scale heat and power generators, whether from renewable or other low carbon sources, to domestic consumers, and its scope includes marketing, pre-contractual information, quotations, deposits, contracts, guarantees and after-sales service¹³. It dovetails with the MCS scheme¹³. For a household dealing with a failed member firm, the code's coverage of deposits and guarantees is the relevant part.

The codes also function as a complaint route. Boiler Upgrade Scheme guidance directs a complaint about installation quality, workmanship or the behaviour of an installer to the installer in the first instance, then to the installer's consumer code, HIES or RECC, or to MCS installation quality complaints². The same structure appears in the Green Homes Grant scheme, where a complaint goes to the installer first, then to the installer's TrustMark scheme provider, then to an ADR provider or the Dispute Resolution Ombudsman¹⁴.

There is a transition point to note. Installers who have not transitioned to the MCS Redeveloped Installer Scheme must still hold consumer code membership with one of the other two approved codes of practice, HIES and RECC¹⁵. Under the redeveloped scheme, installers must continue to hold membership with one of the two approved consumer codes, RECC or HIES, until further notice, for work under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme¹⁶. The transition phase is due to end on 31 March 2027, by which date all MCS certified installers must operate under the redeveloped scheme.

For a household, the practical point is that code membership is checkable before signing and is the route to a remedy after a failure. A firm that is MCS-certified is bound by a code, and the code covers the deposit and the guarantee, not just the technical standard of the work.

Getting unfinished work completed by another installer

Part-completed work creates two problems: the physical completion, and the certification that proves it was done properly. The second is often harder.

Where the original installer was registered under a competent person scheme, the work it completed may already have been notified. A registered installer is approved to carry out the work to comply with building regulations without involving local authority building control, and a certificate is issued on completion⁸. When work is complete, the household receives a certificate showing the work was done by a registered installer¹⁷. If the original firm notified the work before failing, that certificate may still be issued or recoverable.

If the work was not notified, the replacement installer has to take a different route. Where an installer is not in an approved competent person scheme, the installer will not be able to self-certify that their work is compliant, and the firm or the householder will need to give notice to the local authority of the intention to carry out the boiler work in advance, and pay a notification fee¹¹. That is the building control route, and it is slower and more expensive than the self-certification route, but it produces a compliant installation.

On a grant-funded job, changing installer mid-project is not automatic. On the Welsh scheme, before installation works start, a change of installer or eligible measure requires contact with the Development Bank of Wales and re-validation, with no guarantee of approval, particularly if the change would result in additional installation grant being payable⁹. A household in that position should expect the change to be assessed rather than assumed.

The replacement firm will also need to be registered. On the Welsh scheme, the installer must be registered with TrustMark and the relevant body for the relevant type of eligible measure, must comply with the relevant PAS certification, and must not be the borrower, a member of the borrower's household or immediate family⁹. The installer must remain registered until the installation work has been completed⁹. Those conditions are a reasonable template for what any replacement installer should be able to demonstrate.

Escalating a dispute: arbitration, the Financial Ombudsman Service and chargeback routes

The escalation routes depend on what the dispute is about, and choosing the wrong one costs time.

For energy supply and service disputes, the Energy Ombudsman is approved by Ofgem, the UK energy regulator, to handle service disputes in the energy sector¹⁸. Its scope covers consumer complaints about energy bills, mis-selling, problems with energy supply and problems with switching supplier¹⁹. The most common dispute types it handles are billing and payments, customer service, and installation and set up²⁰. It is funded by the suppliers signed up to its scheme, who pay a fee for each case reviewed regardless of the outcome or decision made¹⁸. That funding model means the household does not pay for the review.

There is a timing rule for some complaints. On a Feed-in Tariff dispute, if the complaint is still unresolved after 8 weeks, it can be escalated to the Energy Ombudsman⁵. That eight week period is a useful benchmark for how long a household should allow a supplier or licensee to resolve a matter before escalating.

For financial issues, the Financial Ombudsman Service is the route, including where a household thinks it was mis-sold Green Deal finance, for example if the Green Deal provider did not make the household aware of the facts²¹. That is a separate service from the Energy Ombudsman and covers a different subject matter.

Chargeback and Section 75 are card and credit routes rather than ombudsman routes, and they depend on the card issuer's rules and on the payment having been made on a credit card. They run in parallel with the code and ombudsman routes rather than replacing them. Where a scheme is involved, the published complaint route is through the installer, the consumer code and MCS, not through the card network².

The government has consulted on reforming consumer protection for home upgrade schemes, including introducing a publicly accessible register of installers and retrofit professionals approved to work on government schemes²⁰. That proposal responds directly to the difficulty households face in establishing who is accountable when a firm fails.

How to check an installer's protection before you sign

The checks that matter are the ones that determine what happens if the firm fails, and they can all be made before signing.

Certification and code membership come first. Installers working with consumers must be MCS-certified and members of a consumer code approved by the Secretary of State². Membership of HIES or RECC is a condition of MCS certification³. A household can verify both, and the code membership is what brings the deposit and guarantee protections into play.

Registration for the specific measure comes next. On the Welsh scheme, the installer must be registered with TrustMark and the relevant body for the relevant type of eligible measure, and must comply with the relevant PAS certification⁹. The installer must remain registered until the installation work has been completed⁹. A firm that is registered at the point of sale but not at the point of completion is a risk.

The financial protection product is the third check. MCS states that financial protection products are now available, that they give at least six years of cover from installation, that the excess is capped at 250 pounds, and that they cover bankruptcy, retirement, refusal to remedy and design failure¹. A household should be able to establish whether the work it is buying is covered.

The fourth check is the contract itself. Under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, most off-premises and distance contracts carry a 14 day cancellation period⁴. That covers contracts signed in the home or agreed remotely, which is how much energy installation work is sold. The cancellation right is a cooling-off period, not a deposit protection scheme, and it expires.

Finally, the payment method matters. Paying a deposit by credit card brings the card issuer's dispute routes into play alongside the code and certification routes. Paying a large deposit in cash to a firm with no code membership and no financial protection product leaves the household as an unsecured creditor if the firm fails.