Every landlord needs a gas safety certificate, for every property they let out. This includes short lets as well as properties let out on standard tenancies. 

Your gas safety certificate, officially known as a Landlord Gas Safety Record is one of the most important landlord requirements. It’s vital to giving your tenants a safe place to live, and there are serious legal consequences (including hefty fines and custodial sentences) for landlords who don’t have one. 

What is a gas safety certificate?

A gas safety certificate proves that all the gas appliances in the property, including the boiler, flues, gas fires and gas cookers have been certified as safe within the last 12 months. They can only be issued by a certified Gas Safe engineer. Gas Safe engineers are qualified engineers who are on the Gas Safe Register. 

What if I don’t have any gas appliances?

Even if there are no gas appliances in the property, if there is a live gas supply line, you still need a gas safety certificate. You are only exempt if there is no gas supply at all. 

If your tenants bring their own gas appliances to the property, they are responsible for their safety, but you are still responsible for the safety of the gas supply. 

How do I get a gas safety certificate?

Find a gas safe engineer on the Gas Safe Register website. They’ll inspect all your gas appliances and flues, record any problems and do whatever is needed to make them safe. Once they’re confident, they’ll sign and date your certificate. This costs from £30 (plus the cost of any work that you need). If you have a gas service contract, then the cost of the certificate will usually be included.

You need to give your gas safety certificate to existing tenants within 28 days, or to new tenants when they move in. 

What if I have a certificate, and something still goes wrong?

A gas safety check only happens once a year – there is always the potential for appliances to become dangerous between checks. Make sure your tenants know what to look for, when to call you and how to report a suspected gas leak. 

It is also good practice to install carbon monoxide alarms in your property. You don’t have to, legally, unless you have a solid fuel burning appliance (such as a wood burner or open fire). But they can be lifesaving if there is a gas leak in your property. 

What happens if I don’t get a gas safety certificate?

The consequences are likely to be serious. Under the Gas Safety regulations, you (and your agent, if you have one) could face prosecution and a fine of up to £6000, and/or up to six months in prison. If a tenant were to die as a result of a faulty gas appliance that hadn’t been checked, you could be subject to a manslaughter charge. 

This landlord in Norwich received a 20 week suspended sentence and £4000 fine for failing to carry out checks and having unsafe appliances. And this landlord in Torquay was given a 26 week suspended sentence for falsifying a gas safety certificate.

Even if you escape prosecution, there are still likely to be other consequences. Failing to have a gas safety certificate is likely to invalidate your insurance and it means you can’t use section 21 should you need to evict a tenant. In that case you would have to go through the more complicated and restrictive section 8. 

There is a current case in which a landlord is challenging a decision to refuse him a section 21 eviction because he didn’t supply a gas safety certificate, but the best landlord advice is to assume that section 21 evictions aren’t possible without a certificate. There are moves to end section 21 evictions and make section 8 evictions easier, but at the moment, section 8 is a difficult route to take.

Gas safety certificates are cheap and easy to get, as long as you keep on top of maintenance throughout the year. To keep it simple, get a gas service contract. You’ll be reminded automatically when your certificate needs to be renewed and your tenants will have confidence that repairs will happen quickly. 

For more advice on your legal requirements as a landlord check out our safety and regulation section.