Landlord News Guide to Gas Safety
When renting out a property, landlords have certain legal duties to their tenants relating to gas safety, which is why we put our guide to gas safety together for you.
Landlords are responsible for the safety of their tenants. Landlord obligations apply to different types of accommodation that is occupied through a lease or license. These include, but are not exclusively:
- Residential premises offered by local authorities, housing associations, private sector landlords, housing co-operatives and hostels.
- Rooms in bed-sit accommodation, private households, bed and breakfast accommodation and hostels.
- Holiday accommodation, for example, chalets, cottages, flats, caravans and narrow boats on inland waterways.
The law
The legislation concerning gas safety is the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, which defines landlords’ responsibilities to ensure gas appliances, fittings and flues in rental accommodation are safe.
Landlord obligations
If you rent out a property with gas appliances you have three main duties:
- Maintenance: Pipework, appliances and flues must be maintained in a safe manner. The manufacturer’s instructions on how to service gas appliances should be used. If you do not have these, you should service appliances annually, unless a Gas Safe registered engineer recommends otherwise.
- Checks: You should have every gas appliance/flue checked every 12 months, this will ensure that gas fittings and appliances are safe to use.
- Record: You must provide a record of the yearly gas safety checks to your tenant within 28 days of them moving in or 28 days after the check is completed. Additionally, landlords must keep copies of the gas safety record for two years.
A Gas Safe registered engineer must conduct all checks, including installation, maintenance and safety checks.
If a tenant brings their own gas appliance into the property, that you did not provide, then you are responsible for the maintenance of the gas pipework but not for the specific appliance.
You should ensure your tenants are aware of where and how to turn off the gas and what they should do in the event of a gas emergency.
Access to the property
In the tenancy agreement you have with your tenant, you should outline your right to access the property for any maintenance work or safety checks that need to be conducted. You must take all reasonable steps to make sure this work is carried out. You may need to give written notice to your tenant requesting access and explaining the purpose. Always keep records of this in case your tenant does not grant access, and you have to prove the steps you have taken at a later date.
Short-term rents
If you are letting a property for a short timeframe, for example, a week for a holiday, you still have the same landlord responsibilities for gas safety.
Going forward
You may qualify for a free gas safety inspection if you had a gas appliance fitted in the last six months.
Find out more about gas safety records here.
You should also check whether an engineer or business is Gas Safe registered.
Tenants
Information for your tenants can be found here.