A recent court case should leave landlords in no doubt about their gas safety responsibilities, says Bob Towse, head of technical and safety at the HVCA.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has successfully prosecuted a landlord who managed 193 properties for failing to provide one of his tenants with a gas safety certificate.

Ajay Ahuja, from Cambridgeshire, pleaded guilty at Northampton Crown Court to contravening Section 33(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 by failing to comply with an Improvement Notice served by the HSE. He was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £14,000 after ignoring repeated demands to provide one of his tenants in Corby with a safety certificate for the gas boiler.

All landlords have a duty under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 to annually check the safety of the gas appliances in properties they rent out to others and to provide a certificate to prove the check has been done.

The presiding judge said the authorities had been right to press this case.

'For landlords, there is a need to protect the public, particularly those who rent properties, to guard against gas explosions and... also asphyxiation,' said Judge Corrie.

It does seem extraordinary that a landlord would be prepared to face a potential prosecution and a bill for £14,000 rather than simply have the offending appliance inspected, but sometimes logic goes out of the window in these cases. The severity of the punishment, including a two-year period when the offending landlord will remain 'in the spotlight' and under threat of being re-prosecuted if he falls short again, according to the judge, shows that this issue is now being taken extremely seriously.

Landlords have a legal responsibility, under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, to have all gas fittings and flues maintained safely; an annual safety check carried out on each gas appliance; and to ensure that all gas installations and maintenance works are carried out by a business that is registered with the Gas Safe Register.

Records of each safety check must be kept for at least two years and a copy of the gas safety certificate must be issued to the tenants within 28 days of the safety check or before they move in.

'Every year about 20 to 30 people die from carbon monoxide poisoning associated with domestic gas appliances, due mainly to these appliances not having been properly installed or maintained,' says Neil Craig, principal inspector with the HSE.