There is a common mistaken view among Landlords and Letting Agents that you just need an Annual Gas Safety certificate.
No it is not that simple.
The other day our GSR heating engineer went to a rented property where he thought there was just a boiler. He was surprised to see a gas cooker and he quickly noticed a whole load of defects with that cooker – believe me, you would not need to be a qualified gas engineer to see these problems – I would have spotted them too.
He dashed off an email to the Landlord telling him it could be repaired but recommending he scrapping the oven. (BTW We would not recommend letting a property with any gas appliance other than a gas boiler.)
The landlord replied with some surprise – he did NOT know there was a gas cooker in the property.
He was not pleased to discover that the previous tenant had left it and that the Letting Agent had not dealt with this.
The question obviously arises – whose fault it it – especially if a serious incident or death occurred as a result of this cooker.
The Gas Safety Law says something along the lines of things being safely maintained. The Approved Code of Practise states there must be a GAS SAFETY inspection prior to each new tenancy, even if the current gas safety report is not nearly a year old.
And GAS Safety is the Landlords responsibility.
This offending cooker is not the responsibility of the ex-tenant and not the new tenant. It is the landlords responsibility.
He MIGHT pass the blame on to the letting agent but that can be a grey area…read the content of your contract with the letting agents very carefully!
I suspect that if the Letting Agent have not taken responsibility for gas safety and for arranging gas safety checks then if there was a Gas Incident the blame will be pointed at the landlord. The landlord who failed to get a Gas Safety check prior to a new tenancy.
In my book about Gas Safety for landlords I give full relevant legal references for this very issue. See Right – See Amazon.
PS – the Gas Safety for Landlords book has special reduced price at Amazon now for a short while…..
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