This week is Gas Safety Week 2019, and we’re raising awareness of landlord’s responsibilities when it comes to gas in their rental properties.
Badly fitted and poorly serviced gas appliances can cause gas leaks, fires, explosions and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. CO is a highly poisonous gas that can kill quickly with no warning, as you cannot see it, taste it or smell it.
Landlords are legally responsible for the safety of their tenants. Landlords must make sure maintenance and annual safety checks on gas appliances are carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer.
Landlord Responsibilities
If you’re a landlord, you are legally obliged to make sure:
- Gas pipework, appliances and flues provided for tenants are maintained in a safe condition.
- All gas appliances and flues provided for tenants’ use have an annual safety check
- A Gas Safety Certificate is provided to the tenant within 28 days of completing the check or to any new tenant before they move in
- You keep a copy of the Gas Safety Certificate until two further checks have taken place
- Maintenance and annual safety checks are carried out by a qualified Gas Safe registered engineer
- All gas equipment (including any appliance left by a previous tenant) is safe or otherwise removed before re-letting
At McCartan, we help landlords on our Fully Managed service fulfill their gas safety obligations by issuing tenants with certificates at the start of their tenancy and when new checks are conducted, and keeping records of previous certificates and any gas work carried out.
As back boilers are notoriously problematic, we arrange for annual services to be conducted on them at the same time the gas safety checks are conducted. This way, we can keep them functioning properly and help our landlords keep unplanned maintenance costs down.
The engineers we instruct as qualified and registered with Gas Safe, and we ask them to provide proof of their professional insurances, too.
For more information and to find or check an engineer, visit GasSafeRegister.co.uk or call 0800 408 5500. If you’re a landlord looking for positive property management, give the McCartan team a call on 01792 430100.
Source: Gas Safe Register
