Glad to hear you're in fine fettle now lass. :o)
We got our fireplace opened up in January and we're still waiting for the HETAS certificate. I think the fitter is giving us the runaround. :o(
Btw, are you sure about it becoming illegal to have an open fire? Our fitter mentioned that from next year it's gonna be illegal to have a damper fitted on an open fire, but as far as I could gather, you can still open up the fire.
He fitted us a fire without a damper, in error, and had to come and take it out and replace it with the correct fire, complete with damper. He was not best pleased with us but it was the shop's mistake.