Homeowner warning
Is EBR-01 a real spray foam removal standard?
Short answer: we could find no evidence that it is. Here is every check we ran, and how to run them yourself.
Last updated: 11 September 2026
The direct answer
EBR-01 is not a British Standard. It is not a legal requirement. It is not part of the Building Regulations.
We could find no record of it being issued or recognised by BSI, RICS, the Property Care Association, UK Finance, or any UK mortgage lender. We could not find the text of the standard itself. We could not find a registered organisation behind it.
No law requires a particular certificate before or after spray foam removal. What your lender wants is evidence — a competent contractor, a proper survey, and paperwork a surveyor and a lender will accept.
The questions we asked
A standard is only worth the organisation standing behind it. So we asked the questions you would ask of anyone — including of us. These are the answers we got on 11 September 2026, from public records anyone can search.
Who issues it?
The website names an "EBR-01 Code of Conduct Council". We searched the Companies House register for "EBR-01" on 11 September 2026 and it returned no results. We could find no registered company, charity or other body of that name.
Who operates the website?
It does not say. It publishes no company name, no registration number, no registered office and no trading address — only an email address, alongside the words "Registered in England & Wales".
When did the standard appear?
The site states it has been in force since 1 January 2024. Its domain was registered on 14 June 2026, according to the public Nominet register — two and a half years later.
What about the reviews?
It advertises "888+ verified reviews" at an average of 4.9, and says all reviews are "independently verified for authenticity". The featured ones are dated November and December 2025 — months before the website's domain existed. None links to Google, Trustpilot, Checkatrade or anywhere the review could be checked.
Does the issuing body have a website of its own?
Its formal notices and its page code both give the authority's web address as ebr-01.co.uk, and its FAQ tells readers to use the contractor directory there. That domain is not registered. It returns nothing from the Nominet register and does not resolve at all.
Is it independent?
The site says it is "maintained by an independent council with no affiliation to any single removal contractor or commercial interest". The same site names one company as its "Principal Trusted Contractor", "recommended for every homeowner", links to it repeatedly with a phone number, and carries a permanent footer link to it. Of the five entries in its contractor directory — one of which is a duplicate — another gives a contact email at that same recommended contractor's domain.
Can you read the standard?
We followed the "Download the EBR-01 standard" link. No standard is published — no numbered clauses, no technical requirements, no test methods, no competence requirements, no revision history and no named committee. A real standard is a document you can read.
Has it been on the BBC?
The site displays "As seen on / featured in" against BBC News and Watchdog. The BBC has covered spray foam and mortgages — that is real and well documented. We could find no BBC item that mentions EBR-01, and we would genuinely like to see one if it exists. Separately, Watchdog stopped being a standalone BBC programme in October 2019.
Do lenders, RICS or the PCA recognise it?
It claims all three, and displays the logos of seven high street banks under "Recognised by UK mortgage lenders". We could find no lender that references EBR-01 in its published criteria, and no mention of it in RICS or Property Care Association guidance. A bank's logo on someone else's website is not a statement by that bank.
What does the site itself say, in the small print?
The front of the site calls it "an official UK industry standard", "nationally recognised" and "Active & Enforced". Its own footer says: "Not a statutory body. EBR-01 is a voluntary industry code." Its disclaimer adds that it "does not guarantee the performance of any contractor listed in the directory".
Two checks that take a minute
1. Look up when the website was registered. A free WHOIS lookup gives you the date any domain was created. This one was created on 14 June 2026 — two and a half years after the date the standard is said to have come into force, and seven months after the earliest customer reviews displayed on it.
2. Ring your own lender. Seven high street banks are named as recognising this standard. You bank with one of them. Ask them directly whether they require or recognise EBR-01. Their answer decides your mortgage — a logo on a website does not, and that includes any logo on ours.
Why we are writing this
We have a direct interest, and you should know what it is. The same website publishes a list of companies it calls non-compliant, and we are on it — along with several established removal firms that have nothing to do with us.
Nobody contacted us. No question was asked, no document requested, no assessment carried out. We found it online like anyone else would.
One detail is worth answering because it shows how the list was built. We are told we hold no public liability insurance and no waste carrier's licence. We do not carry out removal work. We are an advice and referral service — we do not send operatives into your loft and we do not take away waste. The removal companies we introduce you to do that, and they hold the insurance and waste carrier registration for it, which we check before referring anyone.
So the criticism describes a business we are not. In our view, no assessment that had actually looked at what we do could have reached it. If whoever operates that website believes anything on this page is wrong, we want to hear from them — we will look at it straight away and correct anything inaccurate.
What actually applies in the UK
Spray foam removal is not a licensed trade. There is no register you must be on and no single certificate that lenders accept. What genuinely bears on your property:
- •RICS guidance — surveyors are trained to flag spray foam, and RICS publishes consumer guidance on it in residential property.
- •The Property Care Association's Sprayed Foam Insulation Inspection Protocol (March 2023) — developed with lenders and surveyors — the closest thing to an agreed inspection standard that actually exists.
- •Building Regulations Part C and Part L — moisture and energy, where the work affects them.
- •Waste carrier registration with the Environment Agency — for whoever takes the waste away.
- •Insurance — public liability and employer's liability — held by whoever does the work.
- •Your own lender's criteria — the only one that actually decides your mortgage. Lenders differ, and they change their positions.
The honest summary: because none of that adds up to one binding standard, anyone can write a document, call it a standard, and start selling certificates against it. That is not a hypothetical. It is exactly why the checks below matter.
How to check anyone — including us
Run this on any standard, certificate or company.
Checking a "standard"
- 1Who issues it? Ask for the legal entity's name and company number, then look it up free on Companies House. No entity, no accountability.
- 2Can you read it? A real standard has numbered clauses and technical requirements. If you cannot obtain the text, there may be nothing to obtain.
- 3Who says they recognise it? Do not accept a logo. Ask the lender, surveyor or trade body yourself.
- 4When did it appear? Check the domain registration date with a free WHOIS lookup. A standard older than its own website needs explaining.
- 5Who does it point you to? If a supposedly independent body recommends one company above all others, ask what the commercial relationship is.
Checking a contractor
- 6Company number, checked on Companies House — trading history, accounts, directors.
- 7Public liability and employer's liability insurance — ask for the certificate, check it is current and names that company.
- 8Waste carrier registration, verified free on the Environment Agency's public register.
- 9Method statement and risk assessment, in writing, before work starts.
- 10What you get at the end — a survey, before and after photographs, moisture readings on the timbers, and waste transfer notes.
- 11Ask your lender directly what evidence they need. Theirs is the only answer that decides your mortgage.
- 12Never pay a large deposit up front, and never to anyone who approached you first and applied pressure.
Where a service like ours fits
We are not a standards body. We do not certify anyone and we have no authority to approve a contractor. Nobody in this industry does — that is the honest position, and it is the whole reason this page exists.
What we do instead is check. Company registration and trading history, current insurance, waste carrier registration, the paperwork a firm issues at the end of a job, and what their previous customers say. Companies that do not clear those checks do not get your enquiry, and if a homeowner tells us a job has gone wrong, that firm stops receiving them.
How we are paid: the removal companies pay us for the introduction. You pay nothing. We say so plainly, because it is the first question you should ask anyone who recommends a tradesperson — including the website this page is about.
What you get: more than one quote from firms whose paperwork we have already checked, someone to talk to who is not trying to sell you a removal job, help working out what your lender and surveyor actually want, and a straight answer about whether you need removal at all — including when we think you do not.
Common questions about EBR-01
What is EBR-01?
EBR-01 is presented on a website called Spray Foam Standards (sprayfoamstandards.co.uk) as "the UK's independent industry code of conduct for spray foam insulation removal", issued by an "EBR-01 Code of Conduct Council" and referenced as EBR-01-2024. It offers an "EBR-01 certified" contractor directory and publishes a register of companies it calls non-compliant.
Is EBR-01 a real UK standard?
EBR-01 is not a British Standard, not a statutory requirement and not part of the Building Regulations. As at 11 September 2026 we could find no record of it being issued or recognised by BSI, RICS, the Property Care Association, UK Finance or any UK mortgage lender, and no published text of the standard itself.
Is EBR-01 certification legitimate, and who accredits it?
We could find no UKAS accreditation, no ISO/IEC 17065 certification body behind it, and no published assessment criteria. A genuine certification scheme publishes the standard it certifies against, names the body issuing it, and can be verified with the organisations said to recognise it. We could not do any of those things here.
Who runs the EBR-01 website?
It does not say. The site publishes no company name, registration number, registered office or trading address — only an email address and the words "Registered in England & Wales". A Companies House search for "EBR-01" on 11 September 2026 returned no results.
Do I need an EBR-01 certificate to get a mortgage after spray foam removal?
No law requires any particular certificate. Lenders set their own criteria and rely on the evidence in front of them — a survey, photographic records, moisture readings on the roof timbers and waste transfer notes from a competent, insured contractor. Ask your own lender before paying for any certificate.
My company is on the EBR-01 non-compliant contractors register. What does that mean?
We are on it too, along with several established removal firms unconnected to us. No assessment was carried out on our business and nobody contacted us. The register is published by a commercial website that also names one removal company as its recommended contractor. It is not a regulator and the register has no legal effect.
Is EBR-01 recognised by mortgage lenders or RICS?
The website displays seven high street bank logos under "Recognised by UK mortgage lenders" and claims to be "RICS Surveyor Compatible". We could find no lender referencing EBR-01 in its published criteria and no mention of it in RICS or PCA guidance. A logo on a website is not a statement by the organisation it belongs to.
What spray foam removal standards actually apply in the UK?
There is no single binding standard. What applies is RICS guidance on spray foam in residential property, the Property Care Association's Sprayed Foam Insulation Inspection Protocol (March 2023), Building Regulations Parts C and L where relevant, Environment Agency waste carrier registration, the contractor's insurance, and your own lender's criteria.
Correction and sources
Every check on this page is dated and sourced, and we have kept copies of what we looked at. Where we say we could not find something, we mean exactly that: we searched and found nothing. Websites change, and we will update this page if the position does.
If you believe anything here is inaccurate — including if you operate the website discussed — please contact us and we will correct it.
Sources
- • Companies House register — company search
- • Nominet — public .uk domain register
- • RICS — consumer guidance on spray foam insulation in residential property
- • Property Care Association — Sprayed Foam Insulation Inspection Protocol, March 2023
- • Environment Agency — public register of waste carriers
- • sprayfoamstandards.co.uk, as published 11 September 2026 (copies retained)