Gas safety checks are something all landlords need to have carried out by law. With the new academic year set to start very soon, now is a very good time to do so if you own a student rental property.
With several universities based (or partly based) in south London such as South Bank, Greenwich and Kingston, there is plenty of demand for student rental property and whether you are an experienced landlord who has rented out the same properties for years, expanding your portfolio, or new to the sector, you must know your legal responsibilities.
Your Three Big Responsibilities
At all times, you are responsible for the gas safety of your rented properties. This means you have three legal responsibilities. The first is to maintain all gas appliances so that they are safe, including pipework and flues. The second is to have an annual gas safety check carried out on these and the third is to keep a record of each safety check.
With the start of term imminent, now may be the time when contracts are renewed or started, and that will often coincide with the check being due.
However, if it is a new investment, that check may not have been done yet. It needs to be, not least to ensure the new residents are safe from the day they move in. This also enables you to supply the new residents with the gas safety check information, as well as all the relevant information on their responsibilities for keeping the appliances in working order.
The responsibilities for landlords arise from the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 and as this legislation is a quarter of a century old, there is certainly no excuse for not being fully aware of the law.
The Importance Of Gas Safe Registration
Knowing you should get a gas safety check carried out is very important, but so too is ensuring it is carried out by a fully qualified engineer.
We can do these checks and our engineers are all accredited by the Gas Safe Register. This was launched in Great Britain in 2009, with its scope being extended to Northern Ireland and the Channel Island of Guernsey in 2010.
All engineers have to be on the register and ours certainly are. Moreover, when an engineer comes to do the check you can – and should – ask to see their certification, which they will happily provide to show they are Gas Safe accredited.
This is very important for multiple reasons. Firstly, it means you can be sure you are dealing with accredited engineers, so it is good for your peace of mind – after all, if anything goes terribly wrong (like a leak leading to an explosion) it is happening to your property.
Secondly, there are some cowboys out there, so this check can stop them and prevent the possibility of them carrying out an inadequate check. This also means you won’t end up using an unqualified or disqualified engineer to carry out maintenance or installation work, which might be unsafe as a result.
Thirdly, this also means that if you have (or think you have) had gas work or inspections carried out in the past by someone who is not properly qualified, having a fully accredited engineer carrying out the inspection means that any faults either not spotted last time or arising from faulty work will be identified and can be fixed, potentially averting disaster.
Consequences, Chaos And Coventry
The consequences of having unsafe gas appliances in any home scarcely bear thinking about. A faulty flue, for instance, will mean carbon monoxide does not get filtered out and builds up inside the property, potentially leading to fatal poisoning. A gas leak can be even worse, as any contact with a spark or fire could cause an explosion.
If any example was needed of the chaos can arise even without the worst-case scenario unfolding, one only has to look at an incident in Coventry this month, where a gas leak in one home led to an entire street being evacuated for safety reasons. West Midlands police and fire services were called before gas engineers cut off the supply to stop the leak.
In that particular case, it was not the result of a flawed domestic gas appliance, but a pipe damaged during excavation work. However, a leaky pipe can occur indoors too.
Since landlords can be prosecuted for failing to carry out gas safety checks and may face further consequences if a tragedy happens, this is something that should be a top priority. Don’t wait until the students move in before getting the checks carried out.