Advice for Landlords Letting Properties With Gas Appliances

Tips and Advice for Landlords Letting out Properties Containing Gas Appliances

Landlords need to be aware that they are responsible for the safety of their tenants and a tenancy agreement should allow the Landlord access to carry out maintenance and safety checks on the rental property. The Gas Safety (installation and Use) Regulations 1998 outlines the Landlords duties to ensure gas appliances, fittings and chimneys and flues, provided for tenants, are safe to use.

When letting a property containing gas appliances the landlord’s responsibilities can include the following:

Maintenance
The following items and areas need to be maintained to ensure they are in a safe working condition:
• Gas pipework
• Supplied appliances – please check the manufacturers hand book for servicing requirements and frequency and if this is not specified or the hand book is not available it is recommended that the appliance is serviced annually. (Any gas appliance owned by the tenants is not the responsibility of the landlord although the connecting pipework will be.)
• Flues and chimneys

Safety Checks and Records
All gas appliances and flues must be checked annually by a qualified Gas Safe registered engineer. The Landlord must maintain a record of the annual gas safety check and provide a copy to the tenants. The copies of the gas safety checks need to be kept for a minimum of 2 years.

Recommendations
It is strongly recommended that a landlord ensures their tenants are aware of where and how to turn off the gas supply to the property as well as what to do and who to call in the case of an emergency.

** Please note that as from April 2018 Landlords are allowed to arrange for Landlord Safety Checks to be carried out up to 2 months before the due date of the existing certificate but keep the same annual check date.