Yes — if your lodger pays you rent, a landlord gas safety check is required every 12 months, and you must keep the record. HSE classes a resident landlord with a paying lodger as a landlord under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 as amended, which apply in England. No formal tenancy is needed, because the regulations also cover people living under a licence to occupy. This page sets out what the check covers in a shared home, who receives the record, what to do if your lodger blocks access, and why the carbon monoxide alarm rules often work differently.
Do you need a gas safety certificate for a lodger in your own home?
Yes. A lodger who pays you rent makes you a landlord for gas safety, so an annual gas safety check is required. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) puts it directly: if you have a lodger who pays you rent, you are classed as a landlord. In England the duty sits in the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 as amended.
No written tenancy agreement is needed for the duty to apply. The regulations cover people occupying under a lease of less than seven years and people occupying under a licence. Most lodgers hold a licence to occupy rather than a tenancy. They are covered all the same.
Living in the house yourself changes nothing. An owner-occupier with nobody paying rent carries no landlord gas duty. Letting a room for rent is what starts it.
A paying lodger makes you a landlord under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 as amended in England. The gas safety check must be carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer at intervals of no more than 12 months, and the record stays your responsibility.
What does the gas safety check cover when you let a room to a lodger?
The check covers the gas appliances, pipework and flues you provide for your lodger to use, not only the let room. In a shared house that usually means the boiler, the gas hob and any gas fire in a shared living room. Your lodger uses them, so they sit with you.
Regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 as amended sets the timing in England. A new appliance or flue must be checked within 12 months of being installed. Checks then follow at intervals of no more than 12 months. Before a new letting begins, the check must have been carried out within the previous 12 months.
Only a Gas Safe registered engineer may carry out the check or the work. Regulation 36 also rules out appliances of a type that regulation 30(2) and (3) bars from sleeping accommodation. If the room you let holds a gas fire or gas heater, a Gas Safe registered engineer can confirm whether that type is permitted there. Nothing on a gas appliance, its flue or its casing is a job for you as the householder.
Gas safety check or boiler service for your lodger's boiler: what is the difference?
A landlord gas safety check and a boiler service are two separate jobs, and the check is the one the law requires for a paying lodger. HSE warns landlords not to assume that either one covers the other.
| Point of comparison | Annual gas safety check (CP12) | Boiler service |
|---|---|---|
| Why it happens | Legal duty in England under regulation 36 for the gas appliances and flues you provide for your lodger | Maintenance of the appliance to the manufacturer's instructions, keeping it in safe working order |
| How often | At intervals of no more than 12 months | As the manufacturer specifies; yearly where no instructions exist, unless the engineer advises otherwise |
| What you end up with | A gas safety record listing each appliance and flue checked, defects found and action taken | A completed service entry in the Benchmark section at the back of the boiler manual |
| Overlap | HSE says do not assume a safety check on its own amounts to effective maintenance | HSE says do not assume an annual service covers the points of a safety check |
| Warranty | Not a guarantee condition in itself | Vaillant, Ideal Heating and Worcester Bosch require annual servicing by a Gas Safe registered engineer during the guarantee period |
Both jobs can be booked for the same visit, which saves the lodger being disturbed twice. The paperwork stays separate: the legal record for the letting, the Benchmark page for the appliance history. A side-by-side comparison is set out in our guide on a gas safety check versus a boiler service.
Who gets a copy of the lodger's gas safety record, and how long do you keep it?
An existing lodger must receive a copy of the record within 28 days of the check, and anyone moving in must get a copy before they move in. You keep the record for two years. An electronic copy is acceptable where the occupier agrees to it and can access it, and a paper copy must be handed over on request.
Short lettings of less than 28 days have an alternative. A legible copy displayed in a prominent position in the property satisfies the requirement instead of handing one to each occupier.
- The date of the check
- The address of the property
- Your name and address as landlord
- A description and the location of each appliance and flue checked
- Any defect found and the action taken to put it right
- Confirmation that the checks required by the regulations have been carried out
Check those fields before you file the record away. A missing address or a wrong appliance location is easier to correct straight after the visit. Deadlines and formats for handing over records are covered in our guide on giving an occupier a copy of the gas safety certificate.
What if your lodger will not let the engineer into their room?
A landlord who cannot get access must be able to show that all reasonable steps were taken, and force is never one of them. HSE expects inspectors to see at least three documented attempts to gain access, depending on the circumstances. Keep every letter, message and note of a missed appointment.
HSE suggests practical steps a resident landlord can take with a lodger who blocks access.
- Leave written notice with your contact details after an attempted visit
- Explain in writing that the annual check is a legal requirement, not a preference
- Offer the lodger the chance to arrange a date that suits them
- Keep the full correspondence on file with the gas safety records
Taking the duty seriously means arranging the check in good time, not at the last moment. An early booking leaves room for a refused visit and a second attempt. A lodger agreement can set out the expectation of access, though it cannot shift the legal duty off you.
Does a lodger need a carbon monoxide alarm if you share the kitchen?
A letting where the occupier shares an amenity with you or a member of your family is excluded from the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015. Sharing means joint use of a toilet, washing facilities, a kitchen or a living room, which describes most lodger arrangements. The gas duty is different and still applies in full.
That split catches people out. The annual gas safety check under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 as amended is required for a paying lodger. The alarm regulations typically are not engaged where the kitchen or bathroom is shared.
An exemption from the alarm rules is not a verdict on the appliance. Nothing stops you fitting a carbon monoxide alarm in a room with a gas appliance. Where the lodger has self-contained space with no shared amenity, read our guide on carbon monoxide alarm rules for rented homes in England before you decide what applies.
Who is responsible if your lodger brings their own gas heater?
A gas appliance your lodger owns and brings with them is not your responsibility, but the installation and pipework leading to it still is. The same split applies to an appliance the lodger takes away when they move out. Your duty follows what you provide for their use.
The duty cannot be passed to the lodger by agreement. A clause in a lodger agreement saying the occupier arranges the gas safety check has no effect on your position under the regulations. Maintenance of appliances, flues and pipework sits with the landlord too, and that is a continuing duty rather than a once-a-year event.
Stop letting the room and the landlord duty ends with the letting, since an owner-occupier with no paying occupier is outside the landlord rules. Keep the old records for the two-year period anyway. When the check is due for your lodger, you can book a landlord gas safety certificate (CP12) with a Gas Safe registered engineer and have the record emailed to you the same day.
Sources
- HSE — Gas safety checks: who needs them?
- HSE — Who is a landlord?
- HSE — Gas safety checks: what needs them?
- HSE — Gas safety check records and what to keep
- HSE — Dealing with tenants
- HSE — Maintenance: gas appliances and flues
- legislation.gov.uk — Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, regulation 36
- GOV.UK — Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Regulations: guidance for landlords and tenants
- GOV.UK — Letting rooms in your home: a guide for resident landlords