DOES MY LANDLORD NEED A GAS CERTIFICATE?

Yes, yes yes & of course yes! This is an absolute must. The only reason not to have a landlord annual gas safety certificate is if your property has no gas in it at all!

In my opinion; and I am one of those annoying people with an opinion on everything – even if I don’t really know about the subject! If you have a gas boiler in your rental home and you feel it is not applicable to you to carry out this check, or you think ‘oh, I’ll just sort that next year!’ then you should never be a landlord in the first place! As someone with the responsibility of providing a safe and secure place to live for your tenants, this check is the one thing that tops all others.

Severe penalties for non-compliance can be imposed for offenders and could even result in manslaughter charges for landlords and agents. It is a criminal offence and courts are able to impose unlimited fines and custodial sentences. Your property insurance may become invalidated leading to possible bankruptcy and prison. For the sake of around £100 a year, it’s not really worth the risk!

The Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regulations 1988 states clearly the landlord’s duties to ensure that all gas appliances, fittings and flues that are in the rental property are safe.

Legislation is always changing and it is important to keep up on this one. It is up to a landlord to carry out an annual gas safety check within 12 months of the installation of a new appliance or flue and it must be done by a qualified Gas Safe Engineer. There is a Gas Safe register, which is easily accessible on line, so do ensure when booking an engineer they appear on this register.

Latham Smith use a great, local, family run company for all their gas installations and safety certificates, so for all our managed properties, we know they are in safe hands and all legislation is being adhered too.

Remember, if you are arranging this yourself, you must provide each tenant with a copy of the latest gas certificate and keep copies for 2 years on file, in case they are needed.

For information on the services we have, see our website at www.lathamsmith.co.uk or call us on 01923 447192 or email lettings@lathamsmith.co.uk