Being a landlord, it is very necessary to you to know the gas safety requirements and the legal obligations when it comes to your tenants. As a landlord, you should be aware that it is you are responsible for the safety of your tenants. If you have any confusion about the legal gas safety requirements for UK landlord, then you are most welcome here.
In general, you have three main responsibilities if you are an owner of property equipped with the gas appliance:
- Maintenance: Pipework, appliances and chimney/flues need to be maintained safely.
- Gas Safety Checks: An annual gas safety checks should be carried out on each gas appliance/flue. This will ensure gas appliance and fittings are safe to be used.
- Record: Within 28 days of completion or to new tenants upon their start of their tenancy a record of the annual gas safety check should be provided to your existing tenants.
Landlord Gas Safety Rules
There are 8 basic legal gas safety requirements for UK landlords. These are following: –
- According to The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, as a landlord it is your responsibility to ensure all gas appliances, fittings and flues are safe at all times.
- All the gas appliance, flues and fittings in the communal areas which are also used by you, are included under the above mentioned 1998 regulations. So these are required to be safe at all times.
- As a landlord, you should maintain a gas safety check within 12 months of installation of a new appliance or flue and this is to be continued on an annual basis. The best idea is to keep a record of the landlord’s gas safety CP12 certificate for a minimum of two years.
- Installing at least one Carbon Monoxide alarming system in every space where a fixed combustion appliance consists, and where flue passes through the high risk of accommodation is very much necessary.
- All the responsibilities such as copies of the maintenance information or annual checks for letting agency to ensure that this maintenance has been carried out fruitfully, must be clarify to the landlords.
- Any gas appliance that is owned by you and provided for your tenant’s use falls under legal responsibilities. So it is actually the owner responsibility to ensure the safe checks are carried out successfully.
- If you have an implied tenancy arrangement, then you should carry out the safety checks. On the other hand, if your tenants lease is longer than 7 years then it’s not your responsibility to carry out the safety checks.
- Last, of all, you should remember that as a landlord it is your duty to a wide range of accommodation occupied under a lease or license and it is stated in the official HSE website.
Finally, always try to seek expert advice on how to proceed and always try to stay on the right side of the law. At Black Knight Estates we are here to assist and always ensure our Landlords meet the UK regulatory requirements.
