The landlord keeps overall responsibility for gas safety, so the answer is the landlord unless the management contract says otherwise. A letting agent carries the duties only where the contract between you and the agent clearly sets out that the agent arranges maintenance, the annual safety check and the record keeping. This page covers England and the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (as amended). It sets out what HSE expects in the contract, what happens when the wording is vague, and where your tenant's own appliances sit.
Is the letting agent or the landlord responsible for the gas safety certificate?
The landlord retains overall responsibility for the gas safety duties, and HSE states that directly. A letting agent only takes on those duties where the management contract says the agent arranges them. Where the contract does place them with the agent, the same requirements under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (as amended) apply to the agent as would apply to you.
Where the contract is silent or unclear, the duties remain with the landlord. That is the point most disputes turn on. A verbal understanding with a branch manager is not a written allocation of duties. Read the management agreement and check it names the gas safety check, not just "repairs and maintenance".
A management contract can move the work to your agent. It does not move your position as landlord. HSE advises you to ask the agent for copies of the maintenance and safety check paperwork, so you can show the work was carried out.
What should the management contract say about the gas safety check?
A management contract should name each gas safety duty and say who performs it. HSE expects the agreement between landlord and agent to make this explicit. If you are drafting or reviewing one, these are the points that need an owner:
- Who arranges maintenance of the pipework, appliances and flues you provide, using a Gas Safe registered engineer.
- Who arranges the annual safety check on each of those appliances and flues, within 12 months of the last check.
- Who keeps the record for at least two years.
- Who gives a copy to existing tenants within 28 days of the check, and to new tenants before they move in.
- Who acts on any defect written on the record, and who authorises the remedial work.
- Who sends you copies of the records, so you hold evidence that the checks happened.
Allocating these points in writing is worth more than a clause saying the agent handles "compliance". Vague wording leaves the duties with you. For the wider legal picture behind each item, see our guide to landlord gas safety in England.
Can a tenancy agreement pass the gas safety duty to the tenant?
No tenancy agreement can transfer the landlord's gas safety duties to the tenant. HSE is explicit that even a full repairing and insuring lease does not shift them. You can agree that a tenant gives access or reports faults. You cannot agree that the tenant becomes the person responsible for arranging the annual check.
Sub-letting works the same way. As the original landlord you stay responsible for the gas safety duties. A tenant who lets out a room is not a landlord for the purposes of regulation 36, so the duties under that regulation do not pass to them. Where a property is sub-let in full, the agreement should state clearly who arranges the safety check.
Who counts as a landlord under the gas safety regulations?
You are a landlord for gas safety if you rent out a property you own under a lease or licence of less than seven years. Where the lease runs for more than seven years, or for life, the duty to maintain and check does not fall on you in the same way. Implied tenancies that come with a job, such as accommodation for a minister or a pub manager, should still be treated as covered.
The duties reach well beyond a standard flat let on an assured shorthold tenancy. HSE lists local authorities, housing associations, co-operatives, private landlords, hostels, bedsits, bed and breakfast premises and hotels. Rented holiday accommodation is included, from cottages and chalets to caravans and narrowboats.
Scope matters here. This page describes the position in England under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (as amended). Northern Ireland has its own regime, the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004.
Whose appliances does the annual gas safety check cover?
The annual check covers the gas appliances and flues that you supply as landlord. Each one needs a check within 12 months of the last check. Before a new tenancy starts, the check on those appliances must have been carried out within the 12 months before the tenancy begins.
Appliances the tenant owns are the tenant's responsibility to maintain and check, and so is a flue that serves only that appliance. A tenant's own gas cooker is the clearest example. HSE treats reminding tenants about their own appliances as good practice.
Flues and chimneys connected to gas appliances are worth including in your own check even when they do not serve your appliances. A shared flue in a converted house can affect safety in more than one room. All of this is work for a Gas Safe registered engineer. Nothing inside an appliance case, and nothing on gas pipework or a flue, is a job for you, your agent or your tenant.
What if the tenant will not let the engineer in for the gas safety check?
You cannot force entry, and HSE expects you to show you took all reasonable steps instead. Its examples include leaving a notice with contact details after a missed visit, writing to the tenant to explain the legal duty and the safety reason, and giving the tenant the chance to arrange an appointment themselves. Inspectors look for repeated attempts, not a single knock. Record every attempt, letter and call.
Timing gives you some room to work with. The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 2018, in force from 6 April 2018, allow the check to be carried out in the two months before the due date while keeping the existing due date. Booking early in that window means an access problem does not automatically shorten your next cycle. Our guide on the 12-month rule and early renewal sets out how the dates work.
Where refusal continues, the management agreement or tenancy may allow legal steps. Whether the steps you took were reasonable is a matter for a court to judge. Using an appliance you know to be unsafe, or letting one be used, is an offence.
Which record must reach the tenant, and how long do you keep it?
The engineer issues a Landlord Gas Safety Record, the document usually called a gas safety certificate. Give a copy to existing tenants within 28 days of the check. Give new tenants a copy before they move in. Keep the record for at least two years.
Short lets need a different approach. Where the occupancy is under 28 days, such as a holiday let or a mobile home, display a legible copy prominently in the property. Tell occupants where it is displayed and how to get their own copy. Our guide on giving tenants the record covers the deadlines in more detail.
HSE describes the record as a living document, to be kept alongside paperwork showing what was done about any defect on it. If your agent holds the file, ask for copies rather than assuming. When you need a CP12 arranged on a London property, FM Power can carry out the landlord gas safety check and email the record the same day.
Sources
- HSE – Gas safety: landlords and letting agents
- HSE – Who is a landlord?
- HSE – Gas safety checks: who needs them?
- HSE – Gas safety checks: what if…?
- HSE – Gas safety check records and what to keep
- legislation.gov.uk – Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, regulation 36
- legislation.gov.uk – Gas Safety (Installation and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 2018, explanatory note
- GOV.UK – Private renting: your landlord's safety responsibilities
- Viessmann – Differences between a boiler service and a gas safety check