Gas Safe week from 12th September 2022 - 18th September 2022.
This week is the twelfth annual gas safety check and an awareness campaign has been set up by the Gas Safety Register and so this is a great opportunity to remind landlords and agents of their gas safety obligations.
The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 outline the duties of a landlord to make sure all gas appliances, fittings, chimneys, and flues are safe and working efficiently. If you’re letting a property with gas appliances installed, you’ve got three main legal responsibilities:
Gas Safety Checks
All gas appliances and flues need to undergo an annual gas safety check – which should always be carried out by a suitably qualified Gas Safe registered engineer. Once this has been done, you'll be given a Landlord Gas Safety Record (LGSR) with details of all the checks that were carried out.
You can arrange for a gas safety check to be carried out any time from 10-12 months after the last completed check, without affecting the original expected expiry date. If it’s less than 10 months or more than 12 months after the last check, you’ll end up with a new deadline date 12 months from the most recent check.
Appliances owned by your tenants aren’t your direct responsibility - although it’s still up to you to ensure the safety of any connecting flues unless they’re solely connected to the tenants’ appliance.
Gas Safety Record
Following the annual gas safety check and receipt of your Landlord Gas Safety Record, you’ll need to provide a record of this check to your tenants. By law, a copy of your Landlord Gas Safety Record should be given to your current tenants within 28 days of the gas safety check - and for new tenants, you’ll need to provide this at the start of their tenancy.
For rental periods of less than 28 days, just make sure you’ve clearly displayed a copy of your gas safety record within the property. You’ll need to keep copies of this gas safety check record until a further two checks have been carried out.
Maintenance
You’ll need to make sure that all gas pipework, appliances, chimneys, and flues are kept in a safe condition. Check the gas appliances’ manufacturer guidelines to find out how often a service is recommended. If you haven’t got access to these, we’d recommend an annual service - unless your Gas Safe registered engineer suggests otherwise.
Issues accessing the property?
The tenancy agreement should allow access for maintenance or safety checks, but if your tenant refuses to grant access you must show you've taken all 'reasonable steps' to comply with the law. This includes repeating attempts to carry out the checks and writing to the tenant to explain that safety checks are a legal requirement in place for their own safety. Keep a record of any action you take; you may need this at a later date.
The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations don’t give powers to “force disconnection” of the gas supply in these circumstances and you may wish to seek legal advice.
Future changes
Changes to the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 are imminent and further information on these changes can be read here.
MORE INFORMATION
To learn more about Gas Safety Week, visit the Gas Safety Week website where you can pledge your support, get campaign materials, and benefit from lots of other free advice or you can keep up to date with Gas Safe Register’s advice throughout the week by following @GasSafeRegister on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and search the official hashtag #GSW22.
