Gas And Electrical Safety Advice For Landlords Renting Out Property

As a landlord you have a legal obligation to ensure that the property you let is safe for your tenants to inhabit

. Generally speaking, gas and electrical systems and appliances present the highest risk of injury. It is essential that you ensure that these systems are safe.

For gas installations

You should ensure that all fittings and flues are maintained properly and in a safe condition. This means that you should have gas installations and appliances serviced every 12 months and you must keep a record of the service.

You should have a gas safety check carried out on all gas appliances and flues annually. A Gas safety certificate is a legal requirement.

Ideally, check gas installations and appliances immediately before the start of any new tenancy, even if the gas safety certificate is still current. Your managing agent should do this for you.

Only a Gas Safe registered plumber or central heating engineer is qualified to repair or certificate anything attached to the gas system. For example, dealing with boilers, flues or cookers.

Ensure that you keep a record of each safety check for 2 years. Your Gas Safe engineer will issue this certificate.

Make sure you give a copy of the Gas Safe engineers safety check report and certificate to your tenants.

The statutory regulations are: Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. These regulations are enforced by the Health and Safety Executive.

For electrical installations

While there is no requirement by law to have the fixed wire electrical system checked for safety, it is good practice and often a requirement for a good property management agency, to provide a Periodic Inspection Report. If the system is safe and in condition it will have Satisfactory Inspection listed on the PIR document. A check every 5 years is generally deemed acceptable.

All properties built since June 1992 are bound by building to have inter-connected mains operated smoke fitted on every level of the property. In older properties this is not a requirement.

However, landlords are well advised to provide at least battery operated smoke alarms as a duty of care. If you fit battery-operated smoke alarms unfortunately, it is the landlords responsibility to test them regularly and for the batteries to be changed regularly. This makes installing a mains operated smoke alarm look more attractive and cost efficient in the long term.

The Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994 and the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 stipulate that all electrical equipment in tenanted residential properties must be safe.

Any electrical equipment you provide should be in good working order and safe.

E.g. Kettles, cookers, microwaves, televisions and washing machines. Technically a PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) procedure should be implemented. This is a test for each appliance to ensure it is safe. A sticker with the pass date is stuck onto it and a record kept.

For landlords with multiple properties this can be time consuming and expensive. Ideally keep the amount of electrical equipment you supply to the tenant at an absolute minimum.

by:Stephen Drummonsy

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