As you should know under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, all gas appliances must be checked by a professional tradesman on an annual basis with a Landlord Gas Safety Certificate being issued to the tenants.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued guidance confirming that Agents and landlords need to use their best efforts to continue to deliver these obligations and should document all communication with tenants if they are unable to do so due to the virus.

If an agent or landlord anticipates difficulties in gaining access as the Coronavirus situation progresses, they have the flexibility to carry out annual gas safety checks two months before the deadline date. Landlords can have the annual gas safety checks at their properties carried out any time from 10 to 12 calendar months after the previous check and still retain the original deadline date as if the check had been carried out exactly 12 months after the previous check. 

You should therefore arrange your annual gas safety checks as early as possible, as a contingency against tenants being in self-isolation for a period of 14-days (in line with current guidelines), or gas engineers being unavailable due to illness. 

In the event that a property is inaccessible, e.g. persistent refusal of access due to vulnerable tenants self-isolating, agents and landlords will be expected to be able to demonstrate that they took reasonable steps to comply with the law. This will need to include records of communication with the tenant and details of their engineers attempts to gain access.

Should you wish to read more details around this topic please visit the Gas Safe Register's website by clicking here.  

If you are struggling and aren't sure of your obligations, please do not hesitate to contact us. As always, we are here to help!

Sarah