What is the Landlords Gas safety Certificate?

Landlords have specific legal responsibilities to their tenants when it comes to gas safety

Understanding the law for rental accommodation

As a landlord, you are responsible for the safety of your tenants. Landlords’ duties apply to a wide range of accommodation, occupied under a lease or licence, which includes, but not exclusively:

• 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 Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 deal with landlords’ duties to make sure gas appliances, fittings and flues provided for tenants are safe.

Landlord’s responsibilities

If you let a property equipped with gas appliances you have three main responsibilities:

• Maintenance: pipework, appliances and flues must be maintained in a safe condition. Gas appliances should be serviced in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. If these are not available it is recommended that they are serviced annually unless advised otherwise by a Gas Safe registered engineer.
• Gas safety checks: a 12 monthly gas safety check must be carried out on every gas appliance/flue.  A gas safety check will make sure gas fittings and appliances are safe to use.
• Record: a record of the annual gas safety check must be provided to your tenant within 28 days of the check being completed or to new tenants before they move in. Landlords must keep copies of the gas safety record for two years.

All installation, maintenance and safety checks need to be carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer.

If a tenant has their own gas appliance that you have not provided, then you are responsible for the maintenance of the gas pipework but not for the actual appliance.

You should also make sure your tenants know where to turn off the gas and what to do in the event of a gas emergency.

1. Less problematic tenants
2. Tenants always have a professional who they can talk to
3. Tenant retention tends to be longer
4. Receive your rent on time
5. Stress free

Less problematic tenants:

Property management companies have been through the process of reviewing tenant applications thousands of times and they know what to look for and what raises a red flag. All tenants are usually screened so you only receive high quality tenants.

Tenants always have a professional who they can talk to:

When there is a problem at the property like an appliance repair or something breaks, the tenants can contact a professional at all times of the days who will be able to sort out the problem so that you the property owner need not drive down to the property or deal with it. This can save you a lot of headache.

Tenant retention tends to be longer:

Tenants who are happy and enjoy their stay at your property tend to increase the lease or continue the rent period. It is unlikely that they will move searching for a better property if they are happy with the current one.

Receive your rent on time:

A good property management company like us make sure we collect the rent on time. We have set procedures in place to make sure you receive the rent on time. That way you will never have to get involved in collecting rent and dealing with late payments.

Stress free:

When you are with a property management company, the property management company usually takes care of most of the work so that you need not worrying about your property. In this way it frees up your time and causes less stress. We are a property management company in London and will be happy to help. You can call us for a free quote.