Updated 28 July 2026
A Home User Guide (HUG) is a mandatory document under Part L of the Building Regulations for new dwellings in England, providing homeowners with non-technical advice on operating and maintaining their home’s building services. It should cover how to use space heating and hot water, lighting, ventilation and any energy generation systems to help occupants operate their home efficiently and maintain a healthy indoor environment during the summer and winter.
Provision of this guidance became part of compliance for new homes in England during June 2022 (more info here). In addition, the new Part L 2026, will see an enhancement to this via introduction of regulation 40C (more here). Once in force this will require provision of both a paper and a digital copy of the Home User Guide (more info on transitional timelines here).
Provide easy-to-read information
You must provide homeowners with information to help them use their new home in a healthy and energy efficient way. The information you provide must be:
- easy-to-read and understand
- specific to the home
- durable
- in an accessible format
Give owners a home user guide
You must give homeowners a user guide about how to operate and maintain the services and systems included in their new home. The guide must cover the following areas:
- heating and domestic hot water
- ventilation
- on-site electricity generation (e.g. Photovoltaics PV)
- staying cool in hot weather
It also must refer to each of the services and systems and explain:
- what they are
- what they do
- their location – including a floor plan
- how they operate – including the location and operation of timers and sensors
- how they are maintained
Include other information
You must provide homeowners with other information as part of or alongside the guide including
- signed copies of the Building Regulations England Part L (BREL) compliance reports
- photos of key stages of construction
- the recommendations report generated with the ‘on-construction’ energy performance certificate
- any manufacturer’s operating and maintenance instructions for fixed building services or on-site electricity generation systems
Find full details in Section 9 of Conservation of fuel and power: Approved Document L.
Under the new ventilation regulations (known as ‘Part F’) you must include or direct homeowners to:
- a copy of the completed commissioning sheet from Appendix C of the Part F regulations
- specific instructions on how and when to use ventilation systems
- any manufacturer’s operating and maintenance instructions – including design flow rates and manufacturer’s contact details
Find out the full details in Section 4 of Ventilation: Approved Document F.
Under the overheating regulations (known as ‘Part O’) you must include or direct homeowners to:
- on outline of the overheating mitigation strategy – including the time of day and year when it should be used
- any manufacturer’s operating and maintenance instructions – including manufacturer’s contact details
Find full details in Section 4 of Overheating: Approved Document O.
Option to use the official template
You can use the home user guide and ventilation guide templates provided on GOV.UK. Note the regulations do not require you to follow the layout, format or example text used in the template.
The wider customer journey
You can find more Future Homes Hub guides developed to provide practical hints and tips on delivering a consistent, positive customer journey from marketing, sales and letting through handover, aftercare and future tenancies below.