Gas Safe is the new Corgi!
Landlords have specific legal responsibilities to their tenants when it comes to gas safety AND WE AS AGENTS TAKE THAT RESPONSIBILITY VERY SERIOUSLY. The Gas Safe Register replaced the CORGI Gas Register on April 1st 2009.
Understanding the law for rental properties
If you are a landlord letting a property equipped with gas appliances you need to understand and comply with the law relating to gas safety.
If you let a property, you must make sure that pipe work, appliances and flues provided for tenants are maintained in a safe condition.
You need to have a gas safety check every year. A Gas Safe registered engineer must carry out the safety check in your properties in Great Britain and the Isle of Man.
You must give your tenants a copy of the gas safety certificate within 28 days of it being carried out or before they move in.
You are also obliged to show your tenants how they can turn off the gas supply in the event of a gas leak.
Annual checks
As a landlord, you are legally responsible for making sure that a Gas Safe registered engineer checks the gas appliances in your rental properties every 12 months and gives you copies of the gas safety certificates.
Gas safety certificates
When your Gas Safe registered engineer has checked the gas appliances in your rental property they will give you a gas safety certificate. This certificate confirms the gas appliances have been checked and are safe.
You must give your tenant a copy of these gas safety certificates within 28 days of the checks being done, or give a copy of the gas safety certificate to a new tenant before they move in.
Remember, you must keep a record of each safety check for two years!
How to be more gas safe
By: British Gas
Gas appliances are used in over half of all British homes to cook food and provide heating and hot water. Usually, people just assume that their gas appliances are safe. Very few of us even think about them at all unless there is something specifically wrong with them.
Although dangerous incidents involving gas appliances are rare, they do happen, so it is vitally important that anyone who has a gas appliance in their home should understand the gas safety rules and be vigilant about upholding them.
Carbon Monoxide, which can be produced by incorrectly installed or poorly maintained gas appliances, can make you extremely ill or even kill you before you realise it. Make sure that you have installed an audible carbon monoxide alarm in every room that has a gas appliance in it, and check them regularly.
All the gas appliances in your home should be installed, repaired, serviced, and regularly checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer. If someone is coming round to install, repair, or service a gas appliance, such as a gas boiler, fire, cooker, central heating system, or radiator, make sure that you see their Gas Safe Register ID card before you allow them to carry out any work.
Although you may feel awkward about asking them, any qualified engineer will be proud to display their credentials, and you should never let someone who is unqualified work on your appliances, as it is your life, and those of your housemates or family members that is at stake.
A Gas Safe Register ID card features a photo of the engineer, a description of their credentials and qualifications, and a licence number that you can check against a register to ensure that their licence is genuine and up to date.
Under no circumstances allow anyone to carry out work on the gas appliances in your home until you are absolutely sure of their credentials. If you are in any doubt about the credentials of your engineer, call 0800 408 5500 and quote the licence number given by your engineers ID card to check whether their license is genuine. If, after phoning this number and quoting the engineers reference number, you are still in any doubt as to the legal registration of your engineer, you should report this to the Gas Safe Register via phone or email.
British Gas can help you to save money on a new boiler installation. By replacing your old boiler with one of our central heating boilers and radiators, you could save up to 40% on your bills. For more info visit the British Gas website
