As all landlord’s know, one of the responsibilities of rental properties is keeping a property safe for tenants and nothing is more important than ensuring they are gas safe.
Landlord’s are responsible for ensuring that all gas appliances, including installation pipes and flues are in a safe condition and maintained.
A landlord must undertaken a gas safe inspection prior to a tenant moving into a property and ensure the tenant has sight of the gas safe certificate prior to moving in and be provided with a copy.
An inspection must then be undertaken annually and each time the tenant must be given a copy of the certificate within 28 days of the inspection being carried out.
Failure to provide a copy of the certificate to the tenant is a criminal offence and landlords can be fined up to £6000 or receive a 6 months prison sentence.
In addition, failure to provide a copy of the certificate at the outset of the tenancy prohibits a Section 21 notice being served on a tenant. Whist this may be rectifiable by serving the certificate later in the tenancy, this is very much a grey area in the eyes of the law and we strongly recommend that landlords do not rely on this.
In 2018 the law regarding follow up inspections changed. Since the 6th April 2018 a follow-up inspection can now be undertaken in the 2 months prior to the expiry of the current certificate and be treated as having been performed on the last day of the existing certificate. We strongly recommend that you keep all paperwork.
To discuss any questions you may have relating to renting a property please give our lettings team a call on 01204 598979.