Landlord Gas Safety Certificate: A Complete Guide for East London Landlords
By Azeem S. | Created on 18th May 2026
As a landlord, one of your most important legal responsibilities is having an up-to-date gas certificate. As well as being a legal requirement, having regular gas inspections protects the health and safety of your tenants.
Regulations state that landlords must keep a copy, provide the tenant with a copy of a valid gas certificate, and ensure that inspections occur within the required time period (before the previous gas certificate has expired) – this means you’ll meet the requirement of the necessary gas safety regulations.
Finding a reliable and suitably qualified Gas Safe registered engineer for your rental property will help you comply with your legal responsibilities. If you have a property in Ilford, Redbridge, Newham, Seven Kings or Barking & Dagenham, we can recommend or instruct an engineer.
Here’s what a gas safety certificate involves, why you need one and how to arrange one for your rental properties.
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What Is A Landlord Gas Safety Certificate?
The Gas Safety Regulations (Installation and Use) 1998 are in place to ensure that landlords arrange for gas safety inspections. Gas safety inspections involve checks on all gas appliances, fittings, flues and chimneys.
The gas safety check highlights any defects that must be rectified. A gas safety certificate is only issued when the engineer is satisfied that the gas appliances, chimneys and flues are safe and that there is adequate ventilation.
Historically, CORGI (Council for Registered Gas Installers) managed all gas safety checks and issued a CORGI Proforma or CP12. In 2009, the UK government replaced CORGI with the Gas Safe Register to improve standards and make it easier to verify qualified engineers.
Do Landlords Need A Gas Safety Certificate Every Year?
Landlords are legally required to renew their gas safety certificate for their rental property every 12 months. You must give your tenants a copy of the certificate within 28 days of the gas safety check and provide a copy for new tenants at the start of the tenancy agreement.
In 2018, a new ‘MOT’ style rule was introduced which allows landlords to book safety checks up to two months before the expiry date, without changing the expiry date for the following year. This is on condition that the two previous checks were completed on time. The change provides greater flexibility to arrange access to the property.
How To Get A Gas Safety Certificate?
A Gas Safety Certificate can only be issued by an engineer on the gas safe register. If you use a letting agent to rent your property, they can arrange this for you. You can find a Gas Safe engineer in your area of London by visiting the Gas Safe website.
To verify an engineer’s credentials, ask to see their Gas Safe ID card to ensure it is in date and use their 7-digit licence number to check their credentials on gassaferegister.co.uk.
Landlords are recommended to obtain two or three quotes before choosing an engineer.
Do I Need To Give Notice To My Tenants To Access The Property?
You must give your tenants 24 hours’ notice, and they must agree to the gas engineer accessing the property. You may need to be flexible in the date and time you book the inspection to accommodate your tenants’ needs.
In the unlikely event that your tenant is being difficult and refuses access to the property, you should not just give up. You must show you’ve taken all ‘reasonable steps’ to comply with the law.
In the first instance, write to your tenants explaining why you need access and what the safety checks involve and keep a record of the correspondence you send. If this fails, you can approach your local council to speak to your tenant on your behalf. As a last resort, you could seek legal advice on applying for a court order to gain access.
What Does A Gas Safety Inspection Involve?
The annual gas safety check must be performed by a certified Gas Safe registered engineer, who will carry out the following actions:
Check all gas appliances, boilers, cookers and fires to ensure they are working efficiently and per the manufacturer’s instructions.
The flues and chimneys are operating correctly to remove fumes.
Check that rooms with a gas appliance have adequate ventilation to enable the gas to burn correctly.
A visual check of the heating system to identify any defects.
Note that a gas safety check is different to a gas boiler service. We recommend that our landlords also have a boiler service each year, which will usually be required to keep any boiler warranty valid.
What about the pipework & tightness?
While a landlord gas safety certificate tests many areas of the gas safety system, it does not test all the pipework in the property for integrity and ‘tightness’. Even so, this is recommended to do separately every few years, especially if you know it’s old.
What About Gas Appliances That Belong To The Tenants?
Tenants can use their own gas appliances, but they are not the landlord’s responsibility. However, landlords are responsible for the gas supply to the appliance. As the gas engineer inspects the other appliances, it is reasonable to ask them to check the installation of any appliances belonging to the tenants.
How Long Does A Gas Safety Check Take?
A gas safety check usually takes around 30 minutes to complete, although this depends on your property’s size and the number of gas appliances being inspected. As long as the test performs the required tests under gas safety regulations, it is acceptable.
Watch this short video to understand Gas Safety Checks for landlords at a glance.
What Is The Penalty For Not Having A Gas Safety Certificate?
Failure to provide a gas safety certificate CP12 has serious consequences. Without a certificate, you risk putting your tenants at risk and could be liable for a fine of up to £6,000, an unlimited fine in the Magistrates’ Court, or potential imprisonment for up to six months.
Other consequences include not being able to serve valid possession notices, voiding of your landlord insurance and if a tenant is harmed, you could face potential charges.
Even if you have a valid certificate, if you don’t supply your tenants with a copy of the certificate on time, you will be in breach of your landlord obligations, and this can impact your eviction rights.
That’s why it is essential to get gas safety compliance right and keep your gas safety record up to date with each check that’s performed.
How Much Is A Landlord Gas Safety Certificate In London?
The prices of gas safety certificates vary depending on where you live and how many appliances need to be checked. For example, a gas safety record check for a 1-bedroom apartment in Ilford will involve less work to check the appliances and pipework than a 6-bedroom HMO in Barking & Dagenham, so the gas safety check price should be lower.
In London, the typical price range for a gas safety check is between £60 and £120. You may be able to save money by getting your boiler service completed at the same time to avoid double call out charges. Note that the charge for the gas safety certificate does not include any repairs or replacement parts, so it is a good idea to budget for any potential additional costs.
Do Landlords Have To Provide Tenants With A Copy Of The Gas Safety Certificate?
Yes, under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, landlords are legally required to provide existing tenants with a copy of the gas safety certificate within 28 days of the check, which will go on your landlord gas safety record. They are also required by law to provide a copy of a valid gas safety certificate to new tenants moving into the property.
What Is A Gas Safety Record And How Long Must They Be Kept?
When you have a gas safety check for landlords, you must record the results in your gas safety register – and keep copies of your gas safety records for at least two years. This record will show how your system performs with each check, including these details:
Detailed information identifying and locating every checked appliance and flue
The checking engineer’s full details including their name, registration number, and personal signature
The specific date when the safety checks took place
The full property address where the appliances and flues are located
Your personal details (or those of your managing agent if relevant)
Documentation of any discovered safety issues, along with required remedial actions or repairs already completed
A comprehensive breakdown of how each appliance performed in all safety tests conducted
Do I Need To Install Carbon Monoxide Alarms?
Carbon monoxide is an odourless gas produced when fuel is burnt incorrectly. So, appliances like boilers, fires and cookers present a safety risk to your tenants. Gas safety regulations for landlords make it compulsory to install these alarms.
Landlords are legally required to fit carbon monoxide alarms in every room used partly or wholly as living accommodation, which has a fixed, combustion based appliance – though this excludes gas cookers. This replaces earlier legislation which only required alarms in rooms with solid-fuel based appliances.
CO alarms should include the Kitemark to the standards ‘BS EN 50291-1:2010’ (for domestic premises), which ensures they meet the necessary quality requirements.
What Happens If a Gas Appliance Fails the Safety Check?
If a gas appliance fails a safety check, the engineer will categorise the risk level, which determines what actions are required and when:
Immediately Dangerous (ID) – Appliance must be disconnected immediately.
At Risk (AR) – Engineer will recommend urgent repair and request to disconnect it. If it is not disconnected, the appliance should not be used until repairs are made and the engineer will attach a warning label.
Not to Current Standards (NCS) – Disconnection not immediately required but improvements are advised.
A valid gas safety certificate will only be issued when all appliances pass their checks.
Landlord Gas Safety Checks FAQ
Can a landlord use any Gas Safe registered engineer, or are there restrictions?
Any engineer on the Gas Safe Register can carry out a landlord gas safety check, but you should verify that their registration covers the specific type of gas work your property requires. Gas Safe engineers are qualified in different categories, for example, domestic boilers, LPG appliances, or commercial equipment, and their ID card lists which categories they are approved to work on.
An engineer qualified only for commercial gas work, for instance, cannot legally carry out a domestic landlord inspection. Always check the back of their ID card, not just the front.
Does a gas safety certificate cover a new boiler that has just been installed?
Not automatically. Installation work and a landlord gas safety certificate are separate things. When a new boiler is fitted by a Gas Safe engineer, the installation should be notified to Building Control and the engineer will issue a Building Regulations compliance certificate – but this is not the same as an annual gas safety certificate.
You will still need a standalone CP12 inspection carried out once the boiler is in use, and this resets the 12-month renewal cycle from the date of that check.
What is the difference between a gas safety check and a boiler service?
A gas safety check is a legal compliance inspection focused on whether your gas appliances and flues are safe to operate. It checks for dangerous defects, adequate ventilation and correct combustion, and results in either a pass or a categorised failure.
A boiler service is a maintenance procedure – the engineer cleans internal components, checks efficiency, and replaces worn parts – but it does not satisfy your legal obligation under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. The two are often combined in a single visit to reduce costs and access disruption, but they are distinct in purpose and in what they certify.
Can a tenant carry out their own gas safety check on behalf of a landlord?
No. The responsibility for arranging and funding the annual gas safety check sits with the landlord, and it cannot be delegated to a tenant. Even if a tenant is themselves a Gas Safe registered engineer, they cannot carry out a compliant inspection on a property they occupy – this creates a conflict of interest that would render the certificate invalid. The obligation also extends to the paperwork: it is the landlord (or their managing agent) who must keep records and provide copies to tenants, not the other way around.
If I buy a rental property mid-tenancy, when do I need to get a gas safety certificate?
If you acquire a tenanted property and there is no valid gas safety certificate in place, you need to arrange one before the tenancy continues, you inherit the compliance obligations from the previous owner at the point of completion. If a valid certificate exists, it transfers with the property, but you should obtain a copy and issue it to your tenants. You also need to make sure you have a record of all previous certificates going back two years, which you should request as part of your pre-completion due diligence.
Does the Renters’ Rights Act change anything about landlord gas safety obligations?
The Renters’ Rights Act, which received Royal Assent in 2025, makes significant changes to tenancy law, including the abolition of fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies and Section 21 no-fault evictions. Gas safety obligations themselves remain governed by the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, but the Act reinforces the link between compliance and possession rights.
Under the reformed system, landlords who have not met their gas safety obligations face greater difficulty pursuing possession, since tenants will have stronger grounds to challenge notices issued by non-compliant landlords. Keeping your gas safety records current is therefore even more important under the new regime.
We Can Help
Annual gas safety checks are a legal requirement for landlords and non-compliance carries severe penalties and can put your tenants in danger.
If you let property in East London areas including Redbridge, Newham and Seven Kings, we can organise your annual gas safety check on your behalf. Contact Sandra Davidson to find out more about our landlord services and see how we support regulatory compliance.
I began as a junior apprentice in a corporate estate agents in 2006 have been working in the property sector since, so over 14 years of experience. I have worked in a range of industries from Property sales and lettings, to construction, development, commercial sales and lets as well as facilities management and maintenance. I have a degree in Economics, enjoy keeping fit and healthy, support Man Utd and have a young family.
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