Before the removal van arrives at a rented home, one document matters for safety: the landlord’s gas safety check record. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Great Britain’s workplace health and safety regulator, publishes landlord guidance on the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, which HSE describes as duties on landlords. This article summarises what HSE says a tenant should receive before moving in, what the record contains and what it does not cover. The HSE pages are guidance for Great Britain, and Northern Ireland is not covered here. This is general information, not legal advice.
What the landlord must give a new tenant
HSE’s “Dealing with tenants” page says a landlord must issue the latest gas safety check record to new tenants before they move in, and to existing tenants within 28 days of the check being completed. The “what if” page adds that before a new tenancy starts a current record must be provided, that a record is valid for twelve months from the date of the check, and that if a new tenancy begins within that period the existing record remains current and can be copied to the new tenants. So a tenant moving in on a date within twelve months of the last check may receive a copy of an earlier record, which is normal.
HSE says the copy can be electronic if the tenant is happy to receive it that way and can access it, but a paper copy must be given if the tenant asks for one. A landlord or a gas engineer, with the landlord’s agreement, may send the electronic record directly to the tenant.
What the record must contain
HSE’s record-keeping page lists the minimum contents of a gas safety check record:
- a description and the location of each appliance or flue checked;
- the name, registration number and signature of the person who carried out the check;
- the date of the check;
- the address of the property;
- the name and address of the landlord or their agent;
- any safety-related defect found and any remedial action taken; and
- confirmation that the check included the matters in regulation 26(9)(a) to (d).
HSE says the check must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer. It describes the standard form as the “Landlord gas safety record”, previously known as a gas safety certificate or CP12. It notes that one record usually covers all the items checked.
What is covered by the annual check
HSE says all permanent and portable gas appliances and flues in the property require an annual gas safety check, and that any appliance the landlord owns and provides for the tenant’s use is within the landlord’s duties. A mobile LPG space heater needs a check as well. Where a building has a communal appliance, such as a boiler serving several dwellings, the landlord must ensure it is maintained by a Gas Safe registered engineer and checked as part of the annual check. Tenants are responsible for checking their own appliances, and the flue if it serves only their appliance, though HSE recommends the landlord include all flues connected to gas appliances in the check. HSE says a tenant who buys an appliance from the landlord becomes responsible for its check and maintenance and should have it checked before buying. Where a previous tenant has left an appliance, the landlord should either remove it or have it checked, and should make ownership clear before re-letting.
Bedrooms and carbon monoxide alarms
HSE says that since 31 October 1998 a room converted to sleeping accommodation should not contain certain gas appliances unless they meet conditions, such as being room-sealed. If a room that contains such an appliance was already a bedroom before 1998, a risk assessment is needed to decide whether it can still be used as one. On carbon monoxide alarms, HSE says that from 1 October 2022 in England all relevant landlords must provide an alarm in any room used as living accommodation that contains a fixed combustion appliance, excluding gas cookers, and it points to separate guidance for Scotland and Wales.
Access, defects and heating
HSE says the tenancy contract should allow the landlord access for safety checks and that force must not be used to enter. If an appliance has been disconnected, HSE says the landlord must provide emergency heating while a Gas Safe registered engineer arranges remedial work. It says an appliance switched off by an engineer was unsafe and should not be used. It also states that a repairing lease cannot pass a landlord’s gas safety responsibilities to a tenant.
A move-in checklist
- Ask for the gas safety record before signing or, at the latest, before moving in, and check the check date is within the last twelve months.
- Confirm that every appliance you will use, including any portable heater the landlord provides, appears on the record.
- Note any defects and remedial action recorded, and ask for follow-up records, since HSE describes the record as a living document to be supplemented.
- Check where any carbon monoxide alarm is fitted, if you are in England.
For other move-in documents, the site’s guides to tenancy deposit protection and Right to Rent checks in England are useful companions. See also the piece on disconnecting gas appliances.
Common questions
Does the record have to be new for every tenancy?
No. HSE says a record is valid for twelve months from the check date, so a current one can be copied to new tenants.
Can a landlord ask me to arrange my own annual check?
HSE says a landlord cannot delegate gas safety responsibilities for the appliances they provide, and a repairing lease cannot transfer them. Tenants are responsible for their own appliances.
The bottom line
HSE says a new tenant in Great Britain must be given the latest gas safety check record before moving in, and the record must show who checked what and when. The annual check covers the landlord’s appliances and flues, and a landlord cannot hand those duties to a tenant. Checking the record before moving day is a quick way to confirm that the gas supply has been looked at by a Gas Safe registered engineer.