The Compliance Check asks you to confirm that your company complies and agrees to continue to comply with key aspects of the Code. Before you can complete this section you should read the Code, prepare a set of compliant documents and make suitable arrangements to meet the Code’s requirements. The REAL website has examples (or ‘templates’) of compliant documents that you can use. Using these documents is the most effective means of ensuring compliance with the relevant sections of the Code.

Below we have set out the Compliance Check questions as they are listed on the application form along with a brief explanation.

Does your company sell or install to individual domestic consumers?

The remit of the Code is for domestic consumers. If your company does not, and does not intend to, sell to or install for individual domestic consumers in domestic properties, please indicate this on the application form.

Are your company's consumer-facing staff aware of the requirements of the REAL Assurance Scheme Consumer Code?

(See sections 3, 4 and 5.2 of the Code)

Members are responsible for ensuring that all staff, employed and subcontracted or self-employed but working on behalf of the member behave in accordance with the Code.

If your company, or others acting on your behalf, carry out sales visits (when customers sign contracts in their own homes when a salesperson is still present) you have important obligations under the law as well as under the Code, which include for example not using high-pressure selling tactics. Matters such as this will be spot checked by REAL’s ‘mystery shoppers’ from time to time. Any breaches of the law or the Code will be treated very seriously. REAL has prepared Guidance on Consumer Protection Legislation and Guidance on Dealing with Vulnerable Consumers.

On joining REAL, members will be given access to online training which includes a full explanation of relevant consumer protection legislation and the Code, and provides real-life examples from the small-scale generation sector.

Do your company's standard Terms and Conditions comply with the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999?

(See section 6.1 of the Code)

Your company has a legal obligation to give consumers contract terms that are fair under the law and are written in plain and intelligible language. REAL has prepared a model contract that you may wish to use.

This legislation does not apply to contracts you may have with commercial or other non-consumer clients. Some members who deal with both commercial and domestic clients find it useful to adopt the model contract for their domestic clients and to have a separate contract for commercial installations. The REAL online training will assist you with this.

Do your company's advertising and sales promotion materials comply with the British Code of Advertising and Sales Promotion and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008?

(See sections 5.1, 5.2 & 5.3 of the Code)

Legislation and the Code require that all your marketing materials (which includes advertisements, flyers, website, point-of-sale literature and information in sales presenters) are legal, decent, truthful and honest and comply with relevant advertising codes.

You must particularly ensure that any performance claims or claims of benefits you make or intend to make in any marketing materials do not ‘oversell’ small-scale generation systems by exaggerating the potential system performance or output. You must also be extremely careful not to exaggerate any financial benefits such as income, payback or return on investment from the system. Please refer to REAL’s Guidance on Presentation of Performance Estimates.

Once you are a member, you:

• may display the REAL logo on your website, stationery, vehicles and/or uniforms, advertising and promotional materials. Guidance will be provided on joining the scheme,
• may, if you have a website, provide a link from it to the current version of the Code,
• must give customers the REAL Consumer leaflet and ensure they are given the opportunity to review it carefully before any sale is agreed.

Here again, the REAL online training will assist you in ensuring that you are complying fully with the Code.

Does your company inform consumers that there is a seven working day cooling off period during which they may cancel the contract and receive a full refund of their deposit?

(See section 6.2 of the Code)

Members must inform customers that they have a ‘cooling-off’ period of seven working days within which to change their mind and to cancel the contract without penalty. In this circumstance a deposit must be returned in full. You will normally be expected to provide a refund within 2 weeks where a customer has cancelled.

Please note: If a customer cancels after the cooling-off period you should still seek to refund a deposit in full though you may deduct reasonable costs reasonably incurred in carrying out work specifically linked to the contract..

Does your company provide consumers with an installer warranty as a matter of course?

(See section 8.1 of the Code)

In addition to handing over any manufacturer’s warranties to a customer, members must guarantee their workmanship. This ‘installer warranty’ must be transferable to the new owner in the event that the consumer moves home. REAL has a template Customer Warranty for Installation Services that you may wish to use.

Does your company insure, or offer its consumers the chance to insure, the installer warranty so that it will be honoured for the full length of the warranty period even if the company is no longer in business?

(See section 8.1 of the Code)

All members are required to make it possible for consumers to insure the workmanship warranty you give them. If your company falls into receivership, administration or bankruptcy within the warranty period, having insurance means the consumer will still have some redress if there is a problem with the installation even though your company is no longer around to put things right.

On the application form you can tick this box if you have arranged an insurance-backed guarantee for your work, either

• via QANW who provide the REAL Deposit and Advanced Payment Insurance (DAPI) Scheme (see ‘Does your company take deposits when the contract is signed?’ below for more on this). If you use this scheme for registering deposits your customers will automatically be offered the option of insuring the warranty or you can opt to do this for them. If you do not take deposits but want your customers to receive information about warranty insurance from QANW you can log into the DAPI Scheme and indicate this; or
• via an alternative deposit insurance scheme which includes guarantee insurance (e.g. IWA.biz); or
• if you have arranged cover via an alternative warranty protection or bond scheme ( e.g. REIGA)

If you intend to use an alternative deposit insurance scheme or warranty, you must tell us which scheme you intend to use so we can check its provisions.

The QANW warranty insurance covers the length of time specified under the warranty but is capped at 5 years. You should contact QANW directly if:

• you want to pay for the workmanship warranty insurance on your customers’ behalf and/or
• your workmanship warranty is for longer than 5 years.

Does your company provide consumers with a cancellation form and contact details before they sign the contract?

(See section 6.2 of the Code)

Members must explain to customers how they can cancel the contract and give the name and address of the person in your company who they should contact. REAL has a template cancellation form that you may wish to use.

Does your company systematically log all complaints received from consumers?

(See section 9.1 of the Code)

Members must deal with customer complaints quickly and effectively. REAL and MCS require you to have a written procedure that describes how you will handle complaints. You must put in place a complaints ‘log’ to record all complaints you receive with details of the length of time it takes you to respond to, and resolve, them.

Does your company take deposits when the contract is signed?

A ‘deposit’ for the purposes of the Code means any money that you require the customer to pay on signing the contract or Order Form but for which they do not immediately receive any goods or services.

Does your company require 25% or less of the final contract price to be paid as a deposit when the contract is signed?

(See section 6.3 of the Code)

You should keep deposits to a minimum. And the absolute maximum amount your company can request as a deposit is 25% of the contract value.

If you require any further payments in advance (i.e. before the customer receives any goods or services), you should set out clearly in the contract or quotation how much they will be, when they will be required and what they will be used for. In addition to an initial deposit under the Code it is permitted to take a further advance payment. This can be taken no more than 21 days before the installation date. Advance payments, taken together with any deposit, must not exceed 60% of the final contract price.

Please note: If a customer pays the cost of items as they are delivered this is not considered an advance payment.

REAL has a template quotation that your company may wish to use

Will your company participate in REAL's Deposit and Advance Payment Insurance, or will you arrange for alternative deposit insurance?

(See section 6.3 of the Code)

If you take deposits and/or payments in advance from domestic consumers, your company must protect those deposits so that if your company fails, the customer’s money is safe.

Members can use the REAL Assurance Deposit and Advance Payment Insurance Scheme (DAPI) to do this. The REAL DAPI Scheme is available free as part of your company’s REAL membership but you must register your contracts online for your customers to get the protection.

There are also other deposit protection schemes on the market that you can use. If you use, or intend to use, an alternative insurance scheme, you should indicate which one.

Does your company keep all consumers’ deposits in a third party ('client') bank account?

(See section 6.3 of the Code)

If your company takes deposits and advanced payments you must, in addition to the above insurance, place those payments in a ring-fenced client account specially set up for the purpose of protecting your customers’ money. Please see the Guidance on the use of Client Accounts on the REAL website for more on this.