Every step, from your letter to an accepted submission.

Stage 1. Your council finds your building

From height and land records, your council identifies residential buildings in its area. You do not need to do anything.

• What you need: nothing.

Stage 2. You receive a letter

Your council's letter carries an access code for your building.

1. Step 2.1

   Get your letter and its access code. You receive a letter about your building, sent on behalf of your council. It has an access code printed on it. The access code is a short mix of letters and numbers. It proves which building the letter is about. Keep the letter safe: you need the code at stage 3.

• Not sure the letter is real? Check it with your council first. Is my letter genuine?
• What you need: the letter.

Stage 3. You enter your code

Enter the code from your letter, and we show you your building's address, so you can see it is yours.

1. Step 3.1

   Go to the website or scan the QR code. Type goldenledger.co.uk into your browser. Or point your phone camera at the QR code on the letter. A QR code is the square pattern of black and white dots. Your phone camera can read it and open the right page for you.

2. Step 3.2

   Enter your access code. Type the access code from your letter into the box. We show you your building's address, so you can see it is yours. If you scanned the QR code, the code may already be filled in. If the building is not the right one, do not go on. Call your council on the phone number from its own website, not a number from a letter.

3. Step 3.3

   Sign in with email, Google or Microsoft. Choose the way that suits you. If you do not have an account yet, we make one for you. Use an email address you check often.

• What you need: the letter, and an email address you check often.

Stage 4. You set up your company

Tell us who you are, then confirm the company that owns the building.

1. Step 4.1

   Say whether you are the owner or the managing agent. We ask: which of these are you? The owner, or the managing agent who manages the building for the owner. If you are neither, for example you are a leaseholder, choose “Neither of these” and tell us who the right person is. You can use each letter once. Managing agents and portfolios

2. Step 4.2

   Confirm your company. We show the company that owns the building, as it appears on the official land records. If you own the building as a person and not as a company, we use your name.

3. Step 4.3

   Confirm your buildings. Check that the building on screen is yours. If you own more than one, claim each one with the code from its own letter. If a building is not right for you, for example you sold it, an admin of your company can open it and choose “This building is not right for us”.

• What you need: the letters for any other buildings you own.

Stage 5. You answer the questions

Answer questions about your building, and upload the papers you already have.

1. Step 5.1

   Answer the building safety questions. Answer questions about your building, such as its height, how it is built and its fire safety checks. Where we already know an answer from official data, we show it for you to confirm. You can stop at any time. We save your answers as you go.

2. Step 5.2

   Upload your documents. Add the papers that back up your answers, such as your fire risk assessment. A photo taken on your phone is fine if the page is clear and easy to read. If your company has chosen document reading, a Microsoft service in the UK reads each document and suggests answers; you check and confirm every one.

• What you need, if you have them: your fire risk assessment; a fire risk appraisal of the external walls (FRAEW) or an EWS1 form; details such as the number of storeys. You do not need everything at once.
• A fire risk assessment is a report on the fire dangers in a building and how they are controlled.

Stage 6. You send your full submission

When every question is answered and your documents are added, send your submission.

1. Step 6.1

   Send your submission. When every section is done, press send. Your council then reviews what you sent. Your building page shows that it has been sent, and we email you to confirm.

• What you need: every section complete.

Stage 7. Your council reviews your submission

Your council reads your answers and documents. If it needs more, it asks, and you go back and send what is missing.

1. Step 7.1

   Answer any follow-up questions. If your council needs more, we email you and show the question on your dashboard. Make the change and send it again. Your building stays at this stage until your council accepts your submission.

Stage 8. Your submission is accepted

Your council accepts your full submission, and you are finished.

• A full submission stays current only while its documents do. When you upload a new version, the old version is kept in the building's history.