Landlords have a statutory obligation under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 to maintain gas appliances in their property. They are required by law to arrange for a Gas Safe registered engineer to check all flues and gas appliances within 12 months of their installation and at least once in every 12-month period thereafter. A record must be kept of the safety check for 2 years and each tenant must be issued with a copy within 28 days of the check being completed. New tenants must be issued with a copy before they move into the premises.
A private landlord in Sheffield was recently fined for five breaches of the Regulations, committed between 15 July 2011 and 15 March 2012, following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The investigation found that Sima Yaqub had:
- never provided her tenant with a landlord’s gas safety record;
- used an unregistered gas fitter to install a boiler, leaving it in a dangerous condition;
- ignored a warning notice from the National Grid after they capped the gas supply to the appliance;
- sent the same unregistered fitter back to reconnect the boiler without fixing the faults;
- allowed the family to use the boiler for several weeks after it was illegally reconnected until it was capped off for a second time and again classed as dangerous;
- ignored repeated warnings from HSE to check the safety of the boiler; and
- failed to provide information to HSE to identify the unregistered fitter despite numerous requests.
Ms Yaqub was fined a total of £17,000 and ordered to pay £6,916 in costs.
The HSE has a website that enables landlords to find in one place all the information they need to meet their legal duties on domestic gas safety.