As a landlord or letting agent, are you fully clued up on gas safety?
A recent article in the Guardian highlighted that unfortunately, many landlords and letting agents are breaking the law, despite firm guidelines and regulations in place to ensure tenants are protected when it comes to gas safety.
In fact, according to charity Shelter, one in 10 landlords and agents have failed to carry out mandatory annual safety checks within the past year.
Isn’t that awful? I can’t believe that landlords would put their tenants’ safety at risk for the sake of saving £90. Unfortunately, I’m willing to bet that a good number of these landlords simply aren’t aware of their obligations, which is startling but in my experience, true.
The idea of this blog is to bring gas safety to the forefront and make people aware of what their duties are if letting, sub-letting, or renting out a room.
Below, I’m going to talk about a landlord’s legal obligations when it comes to gas safety, and the newest regulations you should be aware of.
Breaking the law
Of course, not following the regulations put in place to protect tenants is downright illegal. However, it’s often the poorest and most vulnerable members of society, with the smallest voices, who are taken advantage of in these scenarios.
There are still a lot of shady, unregistered landlords with sublet properties, and it’s a long, drawn-out process trying to catch these rogues. However, some do get caught and dealt with. Here is an example of two landlords who recently had to face the consequences and pay an £8,300 fine.
You may be asking yourself, ‘don’t they have any morals? Does the prospect of being sent to jail if someone dies not bother them in the slightest?’
Well, that brings me on to my next point…
Be aware of your responsibilities
Surprisingly, I often come across clients who are simply not even aware that they have these obligations and responsibilities – it’s frightening.
I actually have to inform many of our clients (landlords and landladies) who have had new boilers installed that they also require annual gas safety (CP12) certificates.
The most common is usually in properties clients buy for their children while they are at university, as often a friend comes in to stay and share the costs – in these cases, the owners simply don’t realise that they must provide a CP12 certificate every year, as they don’t realise they are landlords.
According to the official HSE website:
“In relation to domestic gas under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (GS(IU)R 98), a landlord is anyone who rents out a property that they own or is under a lease that is shorter than 7 years or under a licence. Regardless of whether you are a landlord under GS(IU)R 98 you may be considered a landlord under other related legislation.
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.”
Basic gas safety requirements
I’ve previously highlighted these basic gas safety requirements in the past, but I’m going to do so again right here, just because they are so important:
- You must ensure gas appliances, fittings and flues are safe at all times
- This includes checking any of the above fitted in communal areas
- An annual gas safety check should be carried out with a CP12 certificate issued
- You must issue copies of the CP12 to all tenants and keep a record of them for 2 years
- Long-life carbon monoxide detectors should be fitted in all rooms containing gas appliances
- If using a letting agent, the responsibility for gas safety checks should be stated in your contract
- Any gas appliance you provide for tenants to use is your legal responsibility
- If a tenant provides their own gas appliance, you are still responsible for pipework and other parts
- Landlords are not responsible for gas safety checks if the tenants’ lease is over 7 years (or for life)
- If there is an implied tenancy agreement (publican or vicar) these checks remain your responsibility
For more detailed information, read my blog post ‘8 Basic Gas Safety Requirements for UK Landlords and Buy-to-Let Investors’.
TIP: Also check out my blog ‘6 Important Facts About New and Existing Regulations on Gas Appliances for Landlords’.
Conclusion
I hope you’ve found this blog helpful, and by now you should have a better idea of your basic gas safety requirements, if you didn’t already. It’s my goal to make sure people are more informed, so that danger from failing to carry out gas safety checks is entirely a thing of the past.
Unfortunately, we’re not quite there yet, so feel free to share this blog and get the word out that being unaware of your responsibilities is NOT OKAY.
If you have any specific questions about gas safety that I haven’t answered above, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to help you out.
