Regardless of who you rent your properties to as a landlord, you have a legal and moral responsibility to ensure the gas safety of your housing portfolio so the student gas bills are reasonable and tenants are safe.
Students may seem a little more relaxed but they deserve their gas bills to represent safety and security as well as value. Ensure they are told and shown how to turn off the gas in an emergency.
The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations Act of 1998 is designed to make sure that gas appliances, gas fittings and flues are all well maintained and safe.
- Gas Safety Checks: These are a mandatory every year for every gas appliance and flue within each property. Even if the appliances are brand new, they must be checked to make sure of their safety to use.
- Maintenance: pipes, flues and gas appliances have to be kept in a safe condition. Wear and tear is not an option. The items in question need to be serviced and this has to be done following the manufacturer’s recommendation and instruction.
Also, student broadband deals are not to be used by your tenants to check online for any manuals relating to the appliances in their home. It is your responsibility to provide them.
The very best way to ensure everything is done correctly and according to the law is to hire a Gas Safe registered engineer to carry out annual checks and servicing.
Recording: Your tenants need to be provided with a comprehensive record of the annual check of safety before 28 days have passed. Keep copies of the check for two years alongside the student gas bills your tenants have received.
A gas safety record is a vital document for a student as is a gas utility bill UK which will also give information they may need – emergency contact numbers, for instance – but here’s a quick list:
- A description and place of each appliance and the date of checks
- The name of the checking engineer
- The address of the house in question
- You, as the landlord, and your current address
- Problems that have arisen and fixes that have been carried out
- Results of checks.
It’s crucial that all checks are done by Gas Safe registered engineers. These can be easily found by searching online or contacting the company who provide your student gas bills. Check credentials, certificates and licenses carefully before allowing them to do the work.
Any gas appliances owned by your student tenants are not your responsibility. It’s important they understand that their property is safe and well looked after so encourage them to use their student broadband deal to check gas safety advice online and to look forward to low student gas bills as a result.