Ultimate guide to gas safety and landlord gas safety certificates

As a landlord, you have to comply with a lot of health and safety regulations and gas safety is one of the most important. 

If you fail to meet the standards for gas safety in your property, you could be fined thousands of pounds and even face a criminal conviction and prison time.

The good news is, there’s plenty of guidance out there to help you stay on the right side of the law. 

Here, we’ve put together everything you need to know about gas safety regulations, so you can understand your legal obligations and, most importantly, how to keep your tenants safe.

There’s a lot of information here, but you can skip ahead using the menu below:

What are a landlord’s legal responsibilities for gas safety?

If you’re letting a property with gas appliances – such as a boiler, cooker or gas fire – you must comply with the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.

You have three main legal responsibilities:

  1. Have an annual gas safety check carried out on each appliance and flue
  2. Keep a record of each safety check and provide your tenants with copies
  3. Carry out the necessary maintenance and repairs to ensure all gas pipework, flues and appliances remain in a safe condition

Ultimate guide to gas safety and landlord gas safety certificates

What is an annual gas safety check?

Each year, a Gas Safe registered engineer must carry out a check to make sure all the gas appliances you have provided in your property are working properly and your tenants aren’t at risk. That includes making sure that: 

  • The appliance is operating at the correct pressure
  • Gases aren’t escaping 
  • The flues are clear
  • All safety devices, such as cut-out devices, are working correctly
  • Any brackets securing an appliance are in good condition

Although the annual check doesn’t include the installation pipework, the Gas Safe Register and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recommend that you also ask the engineer to:

  • Test for tightness on the whole gas system, including installation pipework
  • Visually examine the pipework, as far as possible

Note: Only the appliances you have provided need to be checked. You are not responsible for the safety of any gas appliances belonging to your tenants.

Once the engineer has made their checks, they will give you the Landlord Gas Safety Record documentation (also known as a ‘gas safety certificate’). This lists the results of the safety checks and any actions taken or needed to fix them.

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What is a landlord gas safety certificate or CP12?

A ‘landlord gas safety certificate’ is simply a commonly-used term for the Landlord Gas Safety Record document.

But there’s a little bit more to ‘CP12’…

It’s an abbreviation of ‘CORGI Proforma 12’. The Council for Registered Gas Installers (CORGI) was the UK gas safety regulatory body until April 2009, when it was replaced by the Gas Safe Register.

For carrying out checks on rental properties, CORGI engineers were replaced by Gas Safe engineers, and the new Gas Safety Record document came into effect – although many people in the industry still call it a CP12!

While the CORGI CP12 is still in use and has been modernised and updated, you’ll find that many engineers now use the Gas Safe version of the documentation. ‘Gas Safety Certificate’ is simply a commonly-used term for the Landlord Gas Safety Record document.

Booking an annual gas safety check

To give landlords enough time to book an engineer and arrange access to the property, the Government has allowed some flexibility around the date of the annual check. 

This means you can have the check carried out up to two months before the due date – and still keep the original expiry date.

Ultimate guide to gas safety and landlord gas safety certificates