Landlord Gas Safety Certificate  –  is an additional service now on the cards ?

Landlord Gas Safety Certificate – is an additional service now on the cards ?

8:55 AM, 14th November 2014, About 10 years ago 6

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I have had contact from an agent I use occasionally, telling me that HSE are now recommending that landlords cannot be sure that their gas appliances are safe for tenants unless each appliance is serviced as well as having the LGSC inspection.

I suggested this was her contractor looking for extra work…… and I asked her if there had been a change in regulation and if so what regulation was she referring to – she had no response.

My gas engineer of 25 years knows nothing about this and he gets emails from GASSAFE and HSE ……… has anyone else heard of it…. I can find no mention on the GASSAFE site…..

As I said I think its either their gas contractor being “economical” with the truth….. or their new manager looking for extra income for the agency

All Bankersgas


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Comments

Michael Barnes

13:27 PM, 14th November 2014, About 10 years ago

A safety certificate means that the appliance shouldn't kill the tenant, but does not say anything about performance.

A service should have devices operating efficiently, and should cover everything in the safety check.

A safety check may indicate that work needs doing, which would be done under a service.

I always have service and safety check done together, and get charged £5 for having the certificate produced on top of the service.

Romain Garcin

15:03 PM, 14th November 2014, About 10 years ago

The obligation is to maintain the gas fittings in a safe condition and to have them checked for safety every 12 months.

So it is the responsibility of the gas engineer to perform the relevant checks when you hire him to do just that.
IMHO, if he tells you that the checks he did are actually no sufficient, well either he performs more checks at no extra cost or he refunds you in full and you hire someone else.

I have a feeling that someone is chasing extra income, indeed.

16:57 PM, 14th November 2014, About 10 years ago

Amusingly, back when I was a tenant to an amateur landlord a few years back, in a delightful character cottage in Dorset, I got a bill for the the gas boiler service, on top of the gas safety cert. that the landlord had paid for - she argued that the tenancy agreement said I had to maintain it and I chose not to argue from a desire for a quiet life 🙂

Colin Dartnell

19:46 PM, 14th November 2014, About 10 years ago

The whole point of a Gas Safety inspection is to ensure the appliance is safe to use, end of story!

Rob Crawford

15:58 PM, 15th November 2014, About 10 years ago

I think your Gas Safe engineer is referring to the difference between 1. Checking the gas appliance is safe and issuing a Safety Certificate. 2. Conducting an annual service in accordance with the manufacturers instructions. The later does not have to be done to issue the Safety certificate. Instead many Gas Safe engineers will do an 'on condition' health check that proves the gas appliance is safe. The approach accepts that a service has not been carried out. A service in accordance with the manufacturers instructions (usually on an annual basis) will include the same health check but also a strip, inspection and clean. My interpretation of HSE/Gas Safe is that the landlord must ensure a gas safety certificate checks are carried out and that a service in accordance with the manufacturers instructions is carried out. The advantage of the later is that you may be able to identify potential issues before they arise and also the cleaning will ensure the boiler is operating efficiently until the next service. Its a competitive market as such unless you specifically ask for a service the quote/work you receive will be based on an 'on condition' approach.

Rob Crawford

16:19 PM, 15th November 2014, About 10 years ago

For info: http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/advice/renting_a_property/for_landlords.aspx - so if you don't make the manufacturers servicing instructions available to the Gas Safe engineer he/she can advise not to do a service or vice versa!

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