You do not need an annual gas safety check for a rented property in England that has no gas appliances, even if gas pipework is still there. The duty to arrange a yearly check under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, as amended, applies to the gas appliances and flues you provide. Pipework is treated differently. It must still be kept in a safe condition, and only a Gas Safe registered engineer may work on it. This guide sets out what remains your job when the appliances have gone, the supply is capped, or a tenant simply never uses the gas.
Do you need a gas safety certificate if there are no gas appliances?
No annual gas safety check is required for a rented property in England that has no gas appliances. Regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, as amended, ties the yearly check to each gas appliance and flue the landlord provides. With no appliance, and no flue serving one, there is nothing for an engineer to check and record.
The maintenance side of the same duty is wider. Regulation 36 covers any relevant gas fitting, and that term includes installation pipework as well as appliances. Installation pipework is the gas pipe running from the meter into the property. Pipework left behind after the appliances have gone therefore stays your responsibility, as our guide to landlord gas safety in England explains.
No appliance means no annual check. It does not mean no duty. Pipework and any flue left in the property must be kept in a safe condition, and work on them is for a Gas Safe registered engineer. These duties are the England position under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, as amended. Northern Ireland has its own regulations.
Gas pipework and a flue with no appliance: what you still have to keep safe
Installation pipework left in a property without gas appliances must still be kept in a safe condition, and repairs must be carried out when they are needed. HSE guidance for landlords makes the same point about a flue that passes through a property without serving an appliance there. The yearly safety check falls away. The upkeep does not.
HSE treats it as good practice to have the gas installation itself looked at, not just appliances. When a Gas Safe registered engineer attends a property with pipework but no appliance, you can ask for:
- a tightness test, also called a soundness test, on the whole gas installation including the installation pipework
- a visual inspection of the pipework, as far as that is reasonably practicable
- any repair work the inspection shows to be necessary
- a written note of what was tested and what was found, for your own records
Capped, isolated or disconnected: what each state of the gas supply means
A capped supply is pipework that has been sealed off inside the property while it is still connected to the gas network. An isolated or disconnected appliance is one taken off the supply, often because it was found to be unsafe. HSE is blunt about this: an appliance turned off by a Gas Safe registered engineer was turned off because it was unsafe. It must not be used or reconnected until the fault has been put right.
Full disconnection from the gas network is a separate step and runs through the gas distribution network, not your own engineer. Ofgem opened a review of the gas disconnections framework in January 2025 and described the existing process as complex. Its papers note that distribution networks may not charge for disconnection work required on health and safety grounds. That includes disconnecting and capping pipes 12 months after a meter has been removed. Capping a supply in the property, or bringing a capped supply back into use, is work for a Gas Safe registered engineer.
Capped supply with no appliances or a live supply with appliances: what changes
What decides your duties is whether you provide a gas appliance, not whether anyone uses the gas. The table compares a rented property in England with a capped supply and no appliances against one with a live supply and appliances in place.
| What it affects | Capped supply, no appliances | Live supply with appliances |
|---|---|---|
| Annual safety check | No appliance and no flue to check, so no yearly gas safety check is required. | Each appliance and flue you provide is checked within 12 months, then at intervals of no more than 12 months. |
| Ongoing maintenance | Installation pipework must be kept in a safe condition and repaired when needed. | Appliances, flues and pipework must all be kept in a safe condition. |
| Tenant does not use the gas | Nothing to check, because no gas appliance is provided. | The check is still due, whether or not the tenant uses the gas. |
| Record for the tenant | No gas safety record is produced, as there is no appliance or flue to test. | Copy to existing tenants within 28 days of the check, and to new tenants before they move in. |
| Who may do the work | Capping or uncapping pipework is work for a Gas Safe registered engineer. | Checks and repairs only by an engineer in a class of persons approved by HSE. |
A tenant who never uses the gas, or brings their own cooker: where does your duty sit?
A live gas supply with appliances you provide keeps the annual check due, even if your tenant never turns the gas on. HSE states that the safety check must be carried out where there is a live gas supply to the property, and that access has to be given. A tenant who refuses access does not end the duty. You are expected to show the reasonable steps you took, and HSE inspectors look for at least three attempts.
A gas appliance the tenant owns and brings in sits differently. The appliance itself is not yours to check, but the installation pipework and the connection to it remain your responsibility. These duties cannot be handed to the tenant through the tenancy agreement. If a cooker has appeared on a point you believed was capped, have a Gas Safe registered engineer inspect it and record it, as our guide on which appliances appear on a gas safety record sets out.
Between tenants with the gas capped: which records still matter
An empty property does not pause the gas safety duty where appliances are still in place. HSE expects all appliances and flues to be safe, and a current gas safety record to be with new tenants before they move in. Where the appliances have gone and the supply is capped, there is no record to issue. Keep the paperwork that shows what was removed, what was capped and when.
- Keep each gas safety record for two years.
- Give existing tenants a copy within 28 days of the check.
- Give new tenants a copy before they move in.
- The annual check can be done up to two months early, and the original due date still stands.
If the property still has gas appliances and you are relisting it, our guide on gas safety records between tenants covers what applies to an empty home.
No gas appliances left: what you can check yourself and what needs a Gas Safe engineer
Work on gas pipework, capping, flues and anything inside a boiler casing is work for a Gas Safe registered engineer, and a capped supply changes nothing about that. Where a property still has a boiler, there are four things anyone living there can safely look at first:
- the boiler pressure on the gauge
- the thermostat and programmer settings
- the reset button on the boiler
- bleeding radiators that stay cold at the top
Carbon monoxide alarms are recommended by HSE, but they do not replace maintenance and safety checks by a Gas Safe registered engineer. The same applies to a property where only pipework remains: an alarm tells you nothing about the condition of a capped pipe. Where appliances and a live supply are still in place, you can arrange the annual check and the landlord gas safety certificate (CP12) for that property.
Sources
- GSIUR 1998, regulation 36 – Duties of landlords
- HSE – Maintenance: gas pipework
- HSE – Maintenance: gas appliances and flues
- HSE – Gas safety: landlords and letting agents
- HSE – Dealing with tenants
- HSE – Gas safety check records and what to keep
- HSE – Gas safety checks: who needs them?
- HSE – Gas safety: home owners
- Ofgem – Exercising consumer choice: a review of the gas disconnections framework