This section covers the legal requirement to provide a gas safety certificate when you set up a tenancy. For more about gas safety standards, see Gas safety.

You must make sure that an annual safety check is carried out on each gas appliance/flue, by a registered gas engineer. You must provide the gas safety certificate to the tenant.

The engineer must be registered with the Gas Safe Register. You can find Gas Safe registered engineers, or check that an engineer is registered at the Gas Safe website. All Gas Safe registered engineers will carry an ID card with their licence number and what they're qualified to do. You should always ask to see ID.

When to provide the gas safety certificate

A gas safety check must have been carried out within 12 months before the tenancy start date (or within 12 months of installation if the appliances have been installed for less than 12 months). You must carry out an annual check after that.

You must:

• Give the tenant a copy of the latest gas safety certificate before the tenancy start date or if there is an annual check during the tenancy, within 28 days of the annual check.
• Keep a record of each gas safety check for at least 2 years.

If you don't provide a gas safety certificate

Failure to maintain gas appliances may result in loss of life. You risk being prosecuted and could be fined for each offence.

In England for tenancies starting on or after 1 October 2015 failure to provide a gas safety certificate will mean that you cannot use the accelerated possession procedure.