Landlord's gas safety responsibilities

As a landlord, it’s your legal responsibility to ensure your property is safe to live in. One of these requirements is carrying out regular landlord gas safety checks and providing your tenants with the relevant documentation before they move in.

On this page, you’ll find all the information you need to help you understand your gas safety responsibilities, the potential penalties for non-compliance, and some practical guidance on performing your duties as a landlord.

The Gas Safety Regulations also impose certain responsibilities that fall to both the landlord and their tenants. These are:

• No person searching for an escape of gas is to use any source of ignition, e.g. a match or lighter.
• No alterations are to be made to any premises which would adversely affect the safety of a gas fitting so as to result in any contravention of or failure to comply with the regulations, e.g. installation/removal of a window, air bricks, extractor fans or putting extra weight on a hidden pipe.
• Nothing may be done which could affect a gas fitting or any flue or means of ventilation in such a manner that subsequent use could constitute a danger to any person.
• Combustible material must not be stored in any meter box.
• Any person disconnecting a gas fitting must seal off the outlet pipe.
• No person is to carry out work unless competent.
• No person is to install a meter in a locked box without supplying a key.

From 1 October 2022, a carbon monoxide alarm must be fitted in every habitable room of a rental property that contains gas appliances (excluding appliances used for cooking purposes in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland). It is the landlord’s responsibility to carry out tests and ensure that all carbon monoxide alarms in the property are working the day a new tenancy begins.

Make sure the CO alarms you purchase comply with British Standard EN 50291 and carry a British or European approval mark. Install the alarms following the manufacturer’s instructions and test them immediately to check they’re working properly.

It is the tenant's responsibility to test the carbon monoxide alarms as per manufacturer guidance throughout the duration of the tenancy. If they stop working, the tenant should replace the batteries themselves. However, if an alarm continues to not work after the tenant has replaced the batteries, it is the landlord’s responsibility to repair or replace the faulty alarm.

See our guide on landlord carbon monoxide and smoke alarm requirements for more information.

Yes, under the Houses in Multiple Occupation Management Regulations, landlords must be able to provide the current Gas Safety Certificate upon request by the local authority. This applies to all HMOs, not just licensable ones, so landlords of any property with 3 or more unrelated people living in it will have to bear this in mind.

For licensed HMOs, the landlord will also be required to provide the Certificate as part of any licence application and send any replacement copies to the local authority every year.

Keeping on top of all your obligations as a landlord can be a struggle, and the last thing you want is to land yourself in legal trouble for not complying - whether it’s with your landlord gas safety responsibilities or something else entirely.

That’s where the NRLA comes in - our experts are always on hand to help with any questions or issues you may have, offering personalised support to ensure you stay compliant.

As a member of the NRLA, you’ll also benefit from:

• Unlimited access to our expert support line
• A wide range of exclusive discounts, including 10% off at B&Q and Currys
• 5% discount on Safe2 compliance certificates
• Access to exclusive resources to ensure you stay legally compliant

The membership costs just £99 per year - that’s only £1.90 per week!

Join the NRLA today or check out our full list of member benefits.
 

Make sure that your tenants know where and how to turn off the gas and what they should do in the event of an emergency.

If you or your tenant smell gas in the property:

• Open all doors and windows immediately
• Turn off the gas emergency control valve at the meter (if possible)
• Extinguish all naked flames
• Don’t operate electrical switches
• Call your local National Gas Emergency number (0800 111 999 in England, Wales, and Scotland)

Do not turn the gas supply on again until it’s been deemed safe by the emergency Gas Safe registered engineer.

In England, failure to provide the current, valid Gas Safety Certificate at the outset of the tenancy prohibits service of the prescribed Section 21 notice (Form 6a). If that Gas Safety Certificate expires prior to you serving the Section 21 notice, then you must have served any additional Gas Safety Certificates as well.

As of the recent court case, Trecarrell House v Rouncefield, if you have failed to serve the original Gas Safety Certificate or any additional copies on your tenants, this can be rectified by serving the Certificate at any point prior to serving the Section 21 notice (Form 6a) but you will still need to have performed the gas safety check. You will need a current valid landlord gas safety certificate in addition to this, however.

For safety, you should obtain a Building Regulation Compliance Certificate and provide it to your tenants when your gas engineer has fitted a new boiler. County court decisions, while not binding, have rejected Section 21 notices where this has not been done.

Access can be a difficult issue for landlords where the relationship with the tenant is strained. A written agreement normally allows access to the property on a 24-hour written notice, to inspect for and perform any repairs that are needed. However, where the tenant has refused access, the landlord must abide by this until either they get an injunction against the tenant or get the tenant's consent to enter.

Given the expense of injunctions, landlords may find that the easiest route is to start eviction proceedings based on the breach of contract by the tenant. Failure to provide access is likely to be viewed as a fairly serious breach of the contract, given it puts the landlords in breach of a legal duty.

If the landlord cannot gain access, they should establish that they made all reasonable efforts to gain access to the property to prevent prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

To do this, HSE recommends that landlords keep records of all correspondence with the tenant detailing the following:

• Leave the tenant a notice stating that an attempt was made to complete the gas safety check and provide your contact details.
• Write to the tenant explaining that a safety check is a legal requirement and that it is for the tenants own safety. Give the tenant the opportunity to arrange their own appointment.
• Make at least three attempts to complete the gas safety check, including the above suggestions.

However, the approach will need to be appropriate to each circumstance. It would ultimately be for a court to decide if the action taken was reasonable depending upon the individual circumstances. It is a good idea to include arrangements for access in the tenancy agreement.

The Gas Safety (Right of Entry) Regulations 1996 give National Grid the right to enter premises where there is reasonable cause to suspect a gas escape. Their officers can enter to inspect gas fittings, flues, etc., and to carry out tests. Save in an emergency, National Grid can only enter with the occupier's consent or if authorised by a Magistrates Warrant.

In addition to this guidance from the HSE, the landlord should consider whether to take further action themselves where access is not granted. Leaving a property without a gas safety certificate presents a risk to the tenants and to the property itself.

Landlords can either compel access via an injunction or, if there is a suitable clause in the tenancy agreement, through service of a possession notice on the basis of the tenant's serious breach of the contract terms.

In either case, we recommend engaging a solicitor to do this. Injunctions are expensive and complex and should not be attempted without legal advice. The possession process is also likely to be more complex as, due to the absence of a current gas safety cert, landlords probably cannot use the easier Section 21 notices (in England) or Section 173 notices (in Wales) to end the tenancy.

The Gas Safety (Right of Entry) Regulations 1996 give National Grid the right to enter premises where there is reasonable cause to suspect a gas escape. Their officers can enter to inspect gas fittings, flues, etc., and to carry out tests. Save in an emergency, National Grid can only enter with the occupier's consent or if authorised by a Magistrates Warrant.

Tenancy agreements of 7 years or more put the responsibility on the tenant rather than the landlord. However, this only applies to tenancies with a fixed term of 7 years, not tenancies that continue periodically for at least 7 years.

A tenant may install a supply without telling the landlord. By definition, the appliances will belong to the tenant so they are excluded from the landlord's liability. However, any installation pipework will not be excluded and this will be the responsibility of the landlord. Consideration therefore needs to be given to a system of periodically checking supposedly all-electric properties for longer term tenants.

Problems can arise when tenants leave behind their own appliances. These will revert to the landlord and become the landlord's property. The landlord must ensure therefore that they are checked before a new tenancy commences or, alternatively, that they are removed.

National Grid can disconnect gas appliances or any part of the gas system in a property to avert danger to life or property.

If National Grid does this, they must within five clear working days notify the consumer in writing giving details of the nature of the defect or circumstances why the power to disconnect has been used, the nature of the danger and the action taken, and advising the consumer of the right of appeal and the grounds on which an appeal can be made. The notice must also warn the consumer against reconnecting the items and the penalties for doing so. At the same time as disconnecting the items, the official concerned must affix a notice on the relevant items or part of the premises warning against reconnection and the penalties for doing so.

There is a right of appeal to the Secretary of State within 21 days against disconnection. The grounds of appeal are that there was no danger justifying disconnection, the defect or circumstances giving rise to disconnection did not exist or has ceased to exist. There can also be an inquiry if required.

An unauthorised re-connection is a criminal offence. There is a prohibition on re-connection without the supplier's consent. This does not apply to reconnection for the purposes of repairs or where steps have been taken to put the defect right.

If there is a dangerous situation an engineer should disconnect or disrepair with the consent of the responsible person. If this cannot be done he should label the appliance as dangerous. The person must not then use the appliance.