Rental Property Gas Safety

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Gas Safety In Rented Homes

One of the most important annual checks you can do to ensure the safety of you, your home and family is to have your gas boiler annually checked. But what if you live in Let accommodation? Or perhaps you’re a landlord renting his or her first property. Whatever your situation, read on to find out who is responsible for rental property gas safety.

A Good Landlord Equals A Safe Home

All landlords are responsible by law to ensure the safety of their tenants; this is upheld by the Statutory Instrument SI.534 of 2008 Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008.

As a landlord, you’re expected to ensure the safety of your tenants by ensuring any gas appliances; fixtures and flues are in working order and not leaking gas. To do this, you must:

  • Arrange annual safety checks of all gas appliances, flues and fittings
  • Ensure that a gas safety check is carried out on all new appliances within a year of them being fitted
  • This must be carried out by an RGII (Registered Gas Installer) engineer to ensure the work is carried out safely and to standard
  • Carry out any repairs that are advised by the RGII Engineer
  • Your RGII engineer will provide you with a Gas Safety Certificate, which proves compliance with government sanctioned regulations; you must keep this for two years
  • Provide a copy of your Gas Safety Certificate to your tenants within 28 Days of the safety checks being carried out
  • Provide a Gas Safety Certificate to any new tenants moving in
  • Ensure that any gas appliances that have been deemed unsafe, remain turned off until repair or replacement
  • Take ‘all responsible steps’ to gain access to your property to carry out maintenance and safety checks: the contract you draw up for your tenant must clearly outline this. Keep a record of attempts for access in case the tenant is refusing access and the law has to get involved

When Do I Not Have Responsibility?

Although rental property gas safety is first and foremost the responsibility of the landlord, there are certain situations where the rules change. These are:

If the tenant has bought their own gas appliance such as a cooker, then it’s up to them to get the check carried out; however, it’s still up to the landlord to arrange for the appliance to be installed properly by a certified engineer

Less Hassle In The Long run

Having to carry out checks and splash out money for repairs can feel tiresome, but landlords have a lawful obligation to their tenants, to their safety and well being. Rental property gas safety is a high priority for the government and they take any breach of regulation seriously. Responsibility isn’t just for the landlord though; it’s up to all tenants to ensure they don’t knowingly use any appliance that is unsafe or broken. They must report anything to their landlord so the relevant checks and repairs can be carried out. It’s far better to deal with the inconvenience of waiting in for an RGII plumber, than to have to deal with an accident!