Gas Safety Certificates in Colindale

Gas Safety Certificates in Colindale: what is different here

Why many Colindale flats have no gas safety duty at all

The landlord's duty under the 1998 regulations covers gas appliances, fittings and flues provided for the tenant's use. If a flat has no gas pipework, no gas appliance and no flue, there is nothing for an annual landlord gas safety record to cover. That describes a large share of Colindale's newer flats. Colindale Gardens, on the former Peel Centre, is supplied by a district heating network, and each flat takes heat through a heat interface unit, a box with a plate heat exchanger and valves, usually in a hall or utility cupboard.

On Grahame Park, the new Notting Hill Genesis homes are designed around a network that draws most of its heat from air-source heat pumps. Other blocks are all-electric, with panel heaters, electric underfloor heating and an electric cylinder or instant hot water. The signs are simple. A flat with no gas meter, no boiler and an electric or induction hob almost certainly has no gas. Keep a note on the tenancy file explaining why there is no gas record, so a letting agent or the council does not chase you for one.

The energy centre burns gas, but it is not in your flat

The Colindale Gardens energy centre runs a gas combined heat and power engine and gas boilers, operated by Metropolitan for Redrow under a 25-year agreement made in 2020. That plant is the operator's to maintain. HSE's guidance does say that communal gas appliances, flues and pipework which tenants may use are part of a landlord's duties, and that where the landlord does not own the building, its arrangements with the owner should make sure they are maintained and checked.

In practice, ask the managing agent for written confirmation that the heat supplier maintains and checks the plant, and keep it with your tenancy documents. We do not inspect energy centres, and we would not issue a gas safety record for a flat that has no gas in it.

Flats that do have gas: boilers in cupboards, flues in ceilings

Some Colindale flats from the 2000s and 2010s do have their own gas combi boiler, often in a kitchen or hall cupboard away from an outside wall. HSE's bulletin on flues in voids describes exactly this layout in flats built since about 2000: the flue runs through a ceiling or stud-wall void to reach the outside. Owners and landlords had until 31 December 2012 to fit inspection hatches where the flue cannot be seen. Since 1 January 2013, an engineer who cannot inspect the flue treats the installation as at risk and, with the owner's permission, turns off the gas to the boiler.

Before booking, look along the hall ceiling from the boiler to the outside wall for square access panels. If there are none, tell us, because the check cannot pass without a way to see the flue. In a block, new hatches in a ceiling may need the managing agent's agreement, as ceilings in flats can form part of the building's fire separation.

Houses and older homes in NW9

Houses are a minority in Colindale, with detached homes under 3% in both wards at the 2021 Census, but the houses and older flats that remain are more likely to have a gas boiler, gas hob and sometimes a gas fire. Privately owned homes on Grahame Park, where the first families moved in during 1971, may have had their heating replaced more than once.

For these homes the check covers each appliance you provide, the pipework and the flues. A tenant's own gas appliance is not your appliance to check, though the pipework serving it still is. A carbon monoxide alarm is required in any room with a fixed combustion appliance, except a gas cooker.

Barnet HMO conditions on gas

Barnet's published conditions for licensed HMOs require all gas installations to comply with the 1998 regulations and to be inspected every year by a Gas Safe registered engineer. The licence holder must send the current gas safety certificate to the council annually, no more than 12 months old at the date it is submitted, and carry out remedial work within whatever time the council specifies.

For a shared Colindale flat under the borough-wide additional licence, that means the yearly record goes to Barnet as well as to the tenants. We send the record to you or your agent on the day, so it can be forwarded straight away.

Fitting the check around a Colindale tenancy

The check has to be done at least every 12 months. One done within the two months before it is due keeps the original anniversary, so an early booking does not shorten the year. Existing tenants get the record within 28 days of the check, and a new tenant gets it before moving in.

We do not service or repair boilers. If the check finds a fault, we record it, make the appliance safe where that is needed, and explain what your heating engineer has to do; once it is fixed, we can come back to complete the record.

Official sources

• Gas Safety Regulations 1998, reg 36
• HSE landlord gas FAQ
• HSE bulletin: flues in voids
• Cambridge Network, September 2020: Colindale Gardens heat network
• Max Fordham on Grahame Park
• Barnet licence conditions, July 2022 (archived)
• Census 2021 accommodation type, Colindale wards (Nomis)
• GOV.UK alarm regulations Q&A

Last reviewed October 2026 by EliteShires Property Services.