Better gas safe than sorry!

In case you didn't know, this week is Gas Safety Week. So we thought a timely reminder of landlords’ responsibilities for gas safety in rented properties might be useful for anyone who’s not sure of their obligations. The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 set out your duties as 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,
• The Gas Safety Record and
• Regular maintenance of all pipework, appliances and chimneys or flues.

Gas safety check

An annual gas safety check must be carried out each year by a Gas Safe registered engineer. You can find one here. Never use a company that doesn’t carry the yellow logo. You will get a Gas Safety Record or a CP12 certificate detailing the checks that have been done and you must give a copy to your tenants. A gas safety check can be done any time from 10-12 months after the last one, without affecting the original expiry date. But you should be aware that if you arrange a check  less than 10 or more than 12 months after the last inspection, you’ll end up with a new deadline date - 12 months from the most recent check. Landlords aren’t responsible for tenants' own gas appliances. But part of your legal duty to keep the property in a safe condition means you must still ensure the safety of any connecting flues, unless they’re solely connected to the tenants’ appliance. There is no legal obligation to keep a maintenance record but for your own peace of mind it makes sense to detail any checks and servicing that you have had carried out to chimneys, flues and pipework.

Safety checks and landlords

At the moment, one of the biggest questions around safety checks is whether or not landlords will be able to gain safe access to their property to carry them out. The HSE says that in the event that you can’t enter the property because tenants are ill or self-isolating, or if you are unable to commission the work because you can’t book an engineer, you must be able to demonstrate that you took reasonable steps to comply with the law. So make sure you keep copies of emails to the tenant and/or dates and times of phone calls and details of your engineer’s attempts to gain access. You should then rearrange the safety check as soon as is practically possible. If you are worried about compliance (and the fines for flouting the rules) check out our automated lettings platform PlanetRent. It deals with all the latest legislation and rental regulations for you, taking the hassle out of letting a property.

PlanetRent is for landlords who use agents - and for those who don't. It is a cloud-based platform with portals for tenants, contractors and letting agents. Your dashboard tells you what needs renewing to keep you safe governance-wise so you know what is missing or expiring soon. So if you want a smart way to manage compliance, take a closer look at PlanetRent today.