Gas Safety Certificates across North West London

What does the law require?

Under regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, landlords must ensure that every gas appliance and flue they provide in a rented property is checked for safety at least every twelve months by a Gas Safe registered engineer. Since April 2018 the check can be carried out up to two months before the deadline while keeping the original renewal date, so an early check does not shorten the year. You must give a copy of the record to existing tenants within 28 days of the check, and to any new tenant before they move in. Keep each record until two further checks have been done (about two years), or for two years after an appliance is removed. An appliance the tenant owns and is entitled to take away is not covered by your annual check, although you remain responsible for the pipework that serves it.

What does a gas safety check involve?

Each appliance is checked for gas tightness, correct operating pressure and heat input, adequate ventilation, satisfactory flue performance and the safe functioning of all safety devices. The flue is inspected along its accessible length. Anything found to be at-risk or immediately dangerous is classified accordingly and, where necessary and with permission, disconnected. If you refuse permission to disconnect an immediately dangerous appliance, the engineer must report it to the gas emergency service provider.

Gas Safe registration, and why it matters

Only a Gas Safe registered engineer can legally carry out this work and issue the record. Registration is checkable. Every registered engineer carries an ID card with a licence number and the categories of work they are qualified for, and you are entitled to ask to see it. You can enter the licence number from the card on the Gas Safe Register website, which shows the engineer's photo and the work they are qualified to do. If anyone offers you a cheap gas certificate without producing that card, walk away: an invalid record leaves you exposed as though you had no record at all.

What if your tenant will not give access?

The most common reason a gas check goes overdue is access. You are required to take reasonable steps to gain it, and to be able to show you tried. We give tenants a proper appointment window and will attempt access more than once, and we document each attempt so you have a record of reasonable steps if it comes to it.

Renewal reminders

Twelve months is easy to lose track of, particularly across several properties. We diary every certificate and contact you in the two months before it is due, which is the window in which a check keeps your existing renewal date. Where you hold a portfolio we will group the visits so you are not paying separate call-out costs across the year.

Who is this for?

Any landlord letting a property with a gas supply, plus agents managing portfolios where the renewal dates have scattered across the year.

Which mistakes do we see most often?

Letting the twelve months lapse is the obvious one, and an expired record is treated as no record at all. Less obvious is a record that covers the boiler but not the gas hob or the gas fire you supplied. The duty covers every appliance and flue you provide, although not appliances the tenant owns. And landlords routinely underestimate the access problem: you are required to take reasonable steps and to be able to demonstrate them, which means documented attempts, not one unanswered phone call.

Why people trust us

• Gas safety checks only by Gas Safe registered engineers: ask to see the ID card
• A walk-in office on Kenton Lane, not a serviced address
• Any defect explained with its classification, and made safe only with your permission
• A time slot rather than a morning-or-afternoon window
• Work photographed before and after, and reported
• We tell you when you do not need something we sell

We are building a review profile under this name and would rather show you none than borrow someone else's. Ask us for references from landlords and we will put you in touch.