Gas Safety Week

It’s Gas Safety Week (12th to 18th September 2022), an annual event to raise awareness of gas safety. While gas safety is vitally important all year round, we’ve put together a simple guide to remind you of your obligations as a landlord to make sure your tenants are safe.

Gas Safety Record

You have a legal duty to ensure the property is safe for your tenants, meaning you will need to get a Gas Safe registered engineer to carry out an annual gas safety check on all gas appliances. The results of these are recorded in your Landlord Gas Safety Record. You’ll receive a copy of the Record from the engineer, and you’ll need to provide a record of this check to your tenants.

Smoke and Carbon monoxide alarms

Failure to maintain gas appliances can lead to serious problems including gas leaks, fires, explosions, and carbon monoxide poisoning. The Government has issued detailed guidance ahead of a change in the law around smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, which will come into full effect on 1st October. To ensure you are fully compliant with the new legislation, you as a landlord, must:

• Install at least one smoke alarm on each storey of the property where there is a room used as living accommodation. (This has been a legal requirement in the private rented sector since 2015).

• Install a carbon monoxide alarm in any room used as living accommodation which contains a fixed combustion appliance (excluding gas cookers).

• Ensure all smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms are repaired or replaced as soon as you are aware they are faulty.

If you do not comply with these regulations, you could be fined up to £5,000.

Landlords – Your Gas Safety Checklist

• Keep track of your Gas Safety Records and book a new gas safety check if needed

• Make sure you give your tenant a copy of the latest Gas Safety Record

• Keep vents and chimneys clear. Vents are vital to ensure gas appliances burn properly, and chimneys need to be cleaned and checked regularly

• Install smoke and carbon monoxide alarms as per the new regulations and encourage your tenants to regularly test them. It may be useful to show them how this is done.

• Encourage your tenants to check appliances for any warning signs such as excessive soot build up around appliances or a yellow flame instead of a blue one on the gas hob.

• Make sure your tenants know how to react if there is a gas leak:

  • Immediately turn off the gas and open windows and doors to ventilate the property

  • Do not smoke, operate any lights or electrical switches.

  • Leave the house and contact the National Gas Emergency number on 0800 111 999.

  • Do not re-enter the property until it is safe to do so.