| FACT
FILE - Gas Safety in Rental Properties May
2010  The
Health & Safety Executive have launched a new website which gives all sorts of
up to date information on Gas Safety
More
Information on this here 
A guide to landlords’ duties: Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998
Click on image above left for more information. Also important for tenants to
read this
______________________________________________
 Capita
replaces Corgi from April 2009
For
almost twenty years, Corgi has been in charge of making sure that homes meet gas
safety standards with its registered engineers. In April of 2009, the Capita Company
will take over for the Corgi Company as the official gas safety protocol company
for the Health and Safety Executive office
(HSE).Gas
Safe Register™ will be the new name and the official stamp
for gas safety in Great Britain. Capita has signed a ten year contract with
the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE)
The
name carries with it a simple message; gas, safe, register – keep gas safe.As
well as being the identity for the register, Gas Safe Register will be used for
a range of gas safety campaigns, so you will start to see it more and more – it’s
here to stay. Gas Safe Register will be held in trust by the Health and Safety
Executive and will remain the official stamp for gas safety in Great Britain.
More information at www.GasSafeRegister.co.uk
________________________________________________
The
Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations, which took account of the special
concerns relating to privately let property, were introduced in 1994. These were
subsequently superseded by the current regulations, the Gas Safety (Installation
and Use) Regulations 1998. The duties of landlords are contained in Regulation
36 One
of the most dangerous gases is carbon monoxide (CO). In particular, CO is generated
by the combustion of wood or coal (in all its forms) fires and in the flue gases
of gas appliances (town gas, natural gas or bottled gas). The
Gas Safety Regulations set out certain prescriptions about the types of gas appliance
that may be fitted in sleeping accommodation as well as bathrooms or shower rooms.
These appliance prescriptions apply to all accommodation, not only the private
rented sector. Landlord duties for LPG appliances are the same as for natural
gas. Landlords’
duties apply to a wide range of accommodation, occupied under a lease or licence
, which includes, but not exclusively: - residential
premises provided for rent by local authorities, housing associations, private
sector landlords, housing co-operatives, hostels
- rooms
let in bed-sit accommodation, private households, bed and breakfast accommodation
and hotels
- rented
holiday accommodation such as chalets, cottages, flats, caravans and narrow boats
on inland waterways.
A
Landlord has a duty under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998
to arrange maintenance by a
Gas
Safe Register -registered installer for
all pipe work, appliances and flues, which they own and have provided for their
tenants use. The Landlord must also arrange for an annual gas safety check to
be carried out every 12 months by a Gas
Safe Register - registered installer.
The Landlord must keep a record of the safety check for 2 years and issue a copy
to each existing tenant within 28 days of the check being completed and issue
a copy to any new tenants before they move in. Landlords
who use
agents to manage properties need to ensure that
the management contract clearly specifies who is responsible for carrying out
the maintenance and safety check duties and keeping associated records. If the
contract specifies that the agent has
responsibility then the same duties under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use)
Regulations 1998 that apply to a landlord apply to the agent. In
this situation an agent must arrange maintenance by a Gas
Safe Register -registered
installer for all pipe work, appliances and flues, which the landlord owns and
provides for the tenants use. You must also arrange for an annual gas safety check
to be carried out every 12 months by a CORGI- registered installer. You must keep
a record of the safety check for 2 years and issue a copy to each existing tenant
within 28 days of the check being completed and issue a copy to any new tenants
before they move in. The
HSE
(Health and Safety Executive) strongly
recommends the use of CO alarms as one useful precaution to give tenants advance
warning of CO in the property. Top
of page Gas
Appliances in Bedrooms Where
a gas appliance is installed in a bedroom, only the following types are permitted:
- Non
room-sealed appliances of less than 14 kilowatts output (this applies to typical
domestic gas room heaters and gas water heaters), if they are fitted with a device
that switches them off when a dangerous level of fumes is building up (often referred
to as an oxygen depletion sensor); most gas fires now marketed have such a device.
- Room-sealed
appliances (balanced flue).
- Instantaneous
hot water heaters of a room-sealed type, or fitted with a dangerous fumes sensor
which will switch them off.
Gas
Appliances in Bathrooms Only
a room-sealed appliance can be installed in a bathroom or shower room. Important In
many sitations where there is a 3 bedroom semi detached house with separate lounge
and dining room, these types of properties are often let out to 3 sharers. The
dining room or lounge will therefore often become the 4th bedroom and could easily
have a gas fire or back boiler and before a letting takes place the gas inspector
should be advised of the situation to ensure it is safe. Checks
that should be done between tenancies According
to the HSE
a Landlord or an agent must visually check
the property to see if the departing tenant has either removed appliances unsafely,
or alternatively left behind their own appliance, which should either be removed
or checked for safety by a Gas
Safe Register registered installer.
The opportunity should be taken to clarify appliance ownership prior to renting
the property again.
Before the property is let again the Landlord /Agent needs to ensure that all
appliances are safe and have an up to date landlord's gas safety certificate (a
copy of which needs to be given to the new tenant); it is also good practice to
arrange for the pipe work to be inspected and tested for soundness. Further
information at HSE Website A
guide to landlords’ duties: Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998
Click on image below to download
This
leaflet is aimed at landlords and explains some of the main requirements of the
Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. It also gives guidance on
how to comply with them. The
leaflet will also be of interest to tenants, making them aware of landlords’ duties.
Every year about 14 people die from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by gas appliances
and flues which have not been properly installed or maintained. Many
others also suffer ill health. The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations
1998 specifically deal with the installation, maintenance and use of gas appliances,
fittings and flues in domestic and certain commercial premises. They
place duties on certain landlords* to ensure that gas appliances, fittings and
flues provided for tenants’ use are safe. These duties to protect tenants’ safety
are in addition to the more general ones revised 03/09 that landlords have under
the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety
at Work Regulations 1999. Top
of page Gas
Safety Register Confusion - 30th July 2009  In
the Pain Smith Landlord and Tenant Blog the following appeared on the 30th July
2009.
Gas
Safe Register appear to be advising on their helpline that a landlord is obliged
to obtain a new gas safety certificate every time a tenancy is entered into, notwithstanding
any current gas safety certificate that is in place. This is not the position. The
Landlord (or the Agent if it forms part of the terms of business) is required
to arrange the annual preparation of a gas safety certificate and ensure that
throughout any tenancy a valid gas safety certificate is in place at all times.
An
annual gas safety check must be carried out by a Gas Safe Registered engineer.
A record of the safety check must be kept for 2 years. A copy of the certificate
must be issued to each existing tenant within 28 days of the check being completed,
and in any event before the commencement of a tenancy. This
is consistent with the advice as given on the Gas Safe Register website Top
of page Back
to Property Information 
________________________________________________ See
also Landlords
Letting Advice Guide Click
Here Housing
Act 2004 Click
Here Inventories
in UK Rental Market Click
Here Tenancy
Deposit Scheme (TDS) UK Click
Here Condensation
Problems Click
Here
See
also How
to present your rental property for letting Click Here How
not to present your rental property for letting Click Here Buy
to Let UK Click Here Buy
to Let Europe Click Here
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