Have you ever been in a situation of renting a property and your landlord has no gas safety certificate? I am going to explain what to do when your Landlord has no Gas Safety certificate. People you should contact and the steps you should take. If you are paying your rent why should your landlords get away scot free? The answer is they shouldn’t!
Its the law
Law states that landlords should arrange for an annual full gas safety check to be carried out on the property you are renting. This requirement falls under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. Gas safety checks must be carried out by a gas safe registered engineer. All pipe work, flues, boilers, fires and cookers owned by the landlord must be checked. You will need to allow access to the gas engineer to carry out the check at a time suitable to you both.
When the annual gas safety check has been carried out. It is the duty of the Landlord to provide you (the tenant) with a copy within 28 days. The landlord will also keep a copy of the gas safety certificate. Landlords are also required to keep copies of the gas safety certificates for 2 years. Any new tenants moving in should also get a copy of the gas safety certificate.
Making contact
If you find yourself in the position where your landlord has not tried to arrange for a gas engineer to attend your property to carry out the gas inspection, and your current gas certificate has now expired. If its privately rented try and contact your landlord first or lettings agent if they deal with tenancy. This is to inform them you need a gas safety check. It is really important that you keep a copy of all correspondence in the matter i.e. emails or text messages as evidence. This is your proof that you have tried to make contact and you may need it as evidence later on. If you are still not getting anywhere with your landlord here are a couple of options you now have.
Environmental Health
Contact your local council and speak to the Environmental Health department and raise your concerns. Your local council are able take action against your landlord. Especially if they have failed to carry out the gas safety check annually. The Environmental Health department may need to visit you in order to proceed with your concerns. They may also wish to see your expired gas safety certificate as further evidence. You can contact Environmental Health through your local Council.
Health and safety
You may also chose to make a complaint against your landlord to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) by completing the online form LGSR1. Filling out the form will take about 5 minutes and is emailed to the HSE straight away. After you have filled in the form you will receive an automatic response and the HSE will then make contact with your landlord. At this point they will ask them to provide the current gas safety certificate. Hopefully this should be enough to make your landlord make contact and arrange for a gas safety check to be carried out.
Consequences
If your Landlord is not keeping up to date with gas safety checks it is a serious offence. Landlords are required by law and failure to have a landlords gas safety certificate carries a heavy penalty in the way of a fine or imprisonment. Theses penalties could include:
6 months in prison
Up to £6000 in fines
Invalid insurance
Court action if a tenant decides to sue the landlord for civil damages
Manslaughter charges against the landlord if a tenant dies. This could be as a result of poorly maintained or unsafe gas appliances.
If your landlord fails to obtain an annual gas safety certificate this is a serious matter and must be dealt with. You shouldn’t have to settle for paying your rent month after month and allowing your landlord to get away with their responsibilities.
Stay strong and stand up for what is right. Don’t let your landlord break the law and get away with it.