Landlords Gas Safety Checks

When it comes to Landlords gas safety checks looking after the gas safety of your rental properties can be extra work you could do without especially with all of your other duties – however, when dealing with gas safety a quick fix is not an option! Any work you have carried out should always be completed by qualified Gas Safe engineer. Choosing to be a landlord comes with a raft of responsibilities,  one of the most important is that a landlord has to provide their tenants with an annual Landlords Gas Safety Checks Record? Not having these mandatory checks done could put lives at risk and leave the landlord open to prosecution.

Understanding the law for rental accommodation

Under UK law, landlords, must follow set procedures and do all they can to ensure accommodation they rent to others is safe and fit for purpose. These Landlord duties apply to a range of accommodations, that are occupied under a lease or licence agreement, some of these are:

• residential premises provided for rent by local authorities, housing associations, private sector landlords, housing co-operatives, hostels
• rooms let in bed-sit accommodation, private households, bed and breakfast accommodation and hotels
• rented holiday accommodation such as chalets, cottages, flats, caravans and narrow boats on inland waterways.

The statute that applies is The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. This set out a landlords’ duties concerning  gas appliances, fittings and flues. They must all be in a safe condition and fit for proper use.

Landlords Gas Safety Checks Requirements

when letting a property that is equipped with gas appliances the landlord has three main areas of responsibility:

• Maintenance: any and all pipework, all appliances and flues within the property has to be maintained, annual boiler servicing will ensure everything is safe for use. Gas appliances have to undergo regular services as recommended by the manufacturer. If the recommendations are not known then, an annual service is appropriate. However if a Gas Safe registered heating engineer advises otherwise, these steps should be followed.
• Gas safety checks: an annual gas safety check must be carried out. To ensure all flus and appliances are safe there should be no longer than twelve months between checks.
• Record: keeping a record of your annual gas safety check is mandatory and a pass certificate has to be given to your tenant within 28 days of checks being completed. New tenants should be given these before they move in. It is the Landlords duty to keep copies of the gas safety record for at least two years.

If a tenant brings their own gas appliance then you are only responsible for maintaining the gas pipework and are not responsible for that appliance. Emergency gas stop taps need to be shown to every tenant.

For more information about Landlords Gas Safety Checks contact L&W Heating and Plumbing on one of the local numbers below:- 

Wigan Central Heating Engineers 01942 417220
St Helens Central Heating Engineers 01744 776140
Newton Le Willows Central Heating Engineers 01925 394260
Warrington Central Heating Engineers 01925 394260
Runcorn Central Heating Engineers 01925 394260
Widnes Central Heating Engineers 01925 394260