New Gas Safety Requirement for Landlords

It's well known that landlords of residential property are required to have a gas safety test carried out each year. The requirement is contained in the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. A feature of regulations such as this is that they tend to tighten over time so that a gas appliance which passes one year can fail the next without any deterioration in its condition, simply because the goalposts have narrowed.

A number of landlords may get caught out by just such a new development: A new requirement due to kick in on 1 January 2013 is that, where gas boilers are vented via a flue which is concealed within a void, the GasSafe Engineer must be able to visually inspect the flue. This is most likley to be the case where boilers are located on an internal wall of the property because the flue will then have to run within the property to an outside wall. For aesthetic reasons such flues are usually neatly concealed within a hidden void.

If you are a landlord of such a property then you will need to create a means of enabling the inspecting engineer to see that hidden flue. This will probably mean cutting out access hatches through which he can shine a torch and take a look along the hidden flue. As I have said above the new requirement takes effect next month, but you will remain legal until such time as your current Gas Safety Record expires.

You must take action before that expiry date to ensure that the engineer can see what he needs to. If not he will turn the boiler off and advise you and your tenant not to use it. For properties under Simply Let management we will also advise the tenant in writing that he or she must not use the boiler until a valid Safety Record is in place.

The courts take a dim view of breaches by landlords of the Gas Safety Regulations and some impressively large fines have been awarded. The standard penalty is a fine of £6000 per appliance and/or a 6-month prison sentence. That's perhaps less relevant to your tenant than the fact that he or she will be without heating and possibly hot water until you become compliant again.

So you would be wise to take action now:

• Ascertain whether any part of the the flue runs in a void (most unlikley if the boiler is fitted on an external wall)
• If it does, seek advice from a GasSafe Engineer
• Instruct the work required to make the flue arrangement compliant.

Easy as 1,2,3 !