What are my landlord’s gas safety legal responsibilities?
It is important that tenants are aware of the legal responsibilities their landlords have in regards to their gas safety.
Your landlord is legally obliged to ensure that:
- All gas pipework, appliances, and flues provided are kept in a safe condition.
- All gas appliances and flues provided for your use have an annual safety inspection. Your landlord cannot charge you a fee for gas safety checks.
- Maintenance and annual safety checks are carried out by a Gas Safe Registered engineer.
- All gas appliances (including ones left by a previous tenant) are safe to use, or have them removed before re-letting.
- A gas safety record is provided to you before you move in and within 28 days of completing an annual inspection.
Can I ask for a gas safety check if it’s overdue?
If your gas safety check is overdue, you should ask your landlord or letting agent in writing for one to be arranged.
Here’s a template you can edit and send to your landlord or letting agent via email or post.
[Subject: Gas safety check]
I’m writing to ask for the annual gas safety check at [your address].
The check is overdue. The gas appliances and flues have not been inspected by a Gas Safe engineer for over 12 months.
Yearly gas safety checks are a legal requirement under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.
Landlords must give a copy of the latest gas safety record to tenants within 28 days of the check and to new tenants before they move in.
Please let me know when the check will take place so I can arrange access for the engineer.
I look forward to hearing from you within the next 10 days.
When your landlord arranges for someone to work on one of the property’s gas appliances, check that the engineer is qualified to carry out the work that needs doing, for example, if they are working on a boiler, they should have ‘natural gas, domestic boiler’ in the list of qualifications on their Gas Safe ID card.
For more details on how to check if a gas engineer is legally permitted to work on your gas appliances, click here.
How to complain about gas safety
Contact the Health and Safety Executive
If your landlord fails to provide a gas safety check for your rented property, you can make a complaint to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The HSE is Britain’s national independent regulator responsible for health and safety policy and the enforcement of health and safety law in the UK.
The HSE will be able to prosecute any landlord that fails to meet their gas safety responsibilities.
If your gas safety check is overdue and you have asked your landlord to provide your property with one but they have failed to do so within a reasonable time, click here, to contact the HSE.
Contact your council’s environmental health department
As the Health and Safety Executive receives complaints from all over the UK, it might take quite a while for your case to be addressed.
Another way to make a complaint is to contact your council’s environmental health department. Your council can take action against your landlord if gas safety requirements haven’t been met.
Staying gas safe
Besides knowing the legal responsibilities of your landlord, it is important that you know how to take care of your household’s gas appliances and that you are able to spot the early warning signs of an unsafe gas appliance.
Click on the links below for further gas safety advice and information.
