Check a certificate is genuine

Every certificate and record TradeBooked issues carries a QR code and a verification link. A landlord, a letting agent, an insurer or a buyer's solicitor can scan it and see, on a TradeBooked page rather than on your word, that the document was issued and that it is still the current version.

That matters because a PDF is trivial to alter. A number can be changed, a date can be moved, a name can be swapped. The link is what lets someone check the copy in their hand against the record you actually issued.

It answers one question: is this the document that was issued, and is it still the current version.

The page shows the document type and its number, the business that issued it, the issue and inspection dates, the next due date where the document has one, the property (masked to the first line of the address and the outward part of the postcode), and a short fingerprint taken from the issued PDF.

If a newer version has been issued, the page says so and names the replacement. That is what happens when you correct a document: issued documents are locked, so a correction is a new version, and the original then reads as superseded rather than disappearing.

It is not a judgement on the work. Verification says nothing about whether the installation is safe, whether the readings are right, whether you were competent to do the job, or whether your scheme registration is current.

TradeBooked does not check any of that and does not claim to. The document is your professional statement, signed by you under your own competent-person scheme registration. The QR code proves it is the document you issued. It does not make it correct.

If someone needs to confirm you are registered, that is a question for your scheme provider, not for this page.

There is no way to search for a document. You cannot look one up by certificate number, by name or by address. The only key is the unguessable token in the link the document itself carries, so verification is proof of possession: if you were not given the document, you cannot check it.

That is deliberate. A searchable register would let anyone walk a list of numbers and learn who had what work done where. The page also shows the minimum needed to answer the question: no PDF, no test results, no engineer or customer personal details, and never a full postcode.

Drafts never resolve. Only an issued or superseded document opens, so an unfinished document can never read as genuine.

The short version, and it is worth having ready: "Scan the code on the certificate. It will tell you it came from me and that it has not been replaced by a later one. It will not tell you anything about the job itself, that is what the certificate is for."

If they say nothing was found, the link they used is not one TradeBooked issued. Ask them to scan the QR code on the document itself rather than typing a URL, or send them a fresh copy from the booking.