Landlord/Homeowner Safety Certificate

Landlords

As a landlord, it is your duty to understand the legal responsibilities with regards to gas safety for your tenants.

If you rent out a property, you must:

• Make sure that all flues, pipe work and appliances are kept in a safe condition.
• Get a gas safety check every 12 months, carried out by a registered Gas Safe engineer and receive a copy of the gas safety certifiacte.
• Give your tenants a copy of the gas safety certificate within 28 days of the checks being conducted or before the tenants move into the property.
• Demonstrate how to turn off the gas supply to your tenants in case of a gas leak.

You must keep records of all gas safety checks for 2 years.

Homeowners

Home Information Packs (HIPS) and many homeowner surveys do not carry out gas safety checks.

Ask the vendor for a gas safety certificate which should show that all gas appliances have been checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer (after April 1st 2009) or CORGI engineer (before April 1st 2009).

If the vendor cannot produce a gas safety certificate then arrange for a qualified engineer to inspect all gas appliances. Once all the appliances have passed inspection, the engineers will give a gas safety certificate to the vendor, who should give it to you before the move in date.

It's vital that you get all gas appliances checked before moving into your new property, to reduce the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning from badly maintained/installed gas appliances.