FOI Request - Landlord Duties Under Gas Safety Laws
Request 101003763313
My questions are relating to the Authority as a landlord and its' duties under Gas Safety Installation and Use Regulations 1998 (GSIUR) which I believe are covered by section 36 of those regulations.
The questions are specifically relating to only what you as an authority have a legal duty to and what the tax payer/residents therefore has to duty to pay for. Thank you.
Section 36 duties of landlords requires landlords to carry out an annual check of all appliances owned by the landlord and supplied for use by tenants and a maintenance of pipes etc which has no prescribed time limit but it is recommenced, but not mandatory, to carry out the wider duty to gas tighten and checking the pipes at the same time as the annual appliance checks on landlord supplied appliances.
Under the wider duty the landlord also has responsibly to piper or flues that connect any tenants cookers or other appliances they own to the gas supply but not to the tenants appliance itself.
So my question are based on these duties please.
In law past any pipes/flues connecting tenant appliances to the gas system do you consider you have any legal duty to any appliances that tenant can remove from the property when carrying out either the section 36 (2) or (3) duties under GSIUR?
If so what is that legal duty please and do you hold how you came to that conclusion that it was a legal duty please?
Response 30-04-2025
As a social landlord the Council has a statutory duty to carry out annual gas safety checks to all our domestic properties under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. Our ‘in house’ contractor Building Services DLO carry out this and are Gas Safe Registered, with all qualified engineers (22 currently) obliged to adhere to the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.
Regulation 36 applies to any relevant gas fittings (gas appliances and pipework supplying gas appliances) and any chimney/flue which serves the relevant gas fitting. The definition of a relevant gas fitting set out in regulation 36 excludes a tenant’s own gas appliance (e.g. gas cooker) however it does cover the installation pipework supplying the gas appliance. If as part of an installation a tenant supplies their own chimney/flue to serve their gas appliance (e.g. serving a gas AGA) it would fall outside of our landlord’s duties under regulation 36. If the tenant moves out and leaves a gas appliance/ chimneys/flues in situ these will be adopted by us as landlord and then fall under our landlord duties for the next tenant.
Where a contractual agreement dictates that a tenant’s own appliance(s) is not owned by the landlord, this is recorded on the landlord Gas Safety Certificate (LGSR), recorded in the ‘Safe To Use’ section of the certificate. Landlords/clients may also require (through a contractual agreement) that a registered gas engineer (RGE) records a tenant’s own appliance(s) on the LGSR. If this is the case, there is guidance in IGEM/G/11 – Gas Industry Unsafe Situation Procedure (GIUSP) which clearly guides the RGE through a Visual Risk Assessment: “Generally, a visual risk assessment is for visually apparent defects only and does not require moving an appliance or any building infrastructure unless the engineer has concerns. The expression “Safe to use” should not be applied to a visual only assessment as this expression implies a full 26(9) examination has been performed”. For a tenant’s own appliance(s), a visual inspection only should be carried out and no further checks are required.
If so what is that legal duty please and do you hold how you came to that conclusion that it was a legal duty please?
To conform to the requirements of Regulation 36(2) & 36(3) of GSIUR, a landlord needs to: a) Ensure that appliances and chimneys/flues to which the landlord’s duty extends, are checked for gas safety at periods not exceeding 12 months. b) Although installation pipework is not covered by the requirements of the annual safety check, there is a requirement for landlords to ensure that it is maintained in a safe condition. It is generally accepted that a test for tightness on the whole gas system, including installation pipework, together with visual examination (as far as is reasonably practicable) of the pipework, be made at the same time as the safety check.
Regulation 26(9) of GSIUR requires that after ‘work’ has been undertaken on a gas appliance, RGE’s need to undertake the necessary gas safety checks and tests to ensure that the appliance and any associated chimney/flue, is safe for continued use. They need to examine: (a) the effectiveness of any flue; (b) the supply of combustion air; (c) subject to paragraph (ca), its operating pressure or heat input or, where necessary, both; (ca) if it is not reasonably practicable to examine its operating pressure or heat input (or, where necessary, both), its combustion performance (d) its operation so as to ensure its safe functioning Note 6: Regulation 26(9) (d) would include any appliance specific, or manufacturer specified safety checks e.g. combustion analysis. The term ‘work’ is defined in GSIUR and lists specific activities, which are: maintaining, servicing, permanently adjusting, disconnecting, repairing, altering, or renewing the fitting or purging it of air or gas; where the fitting is not readily movable, changing its position; removing the fitting.
In conclusion, further advice on the statutory duty of landlords can be found in Gas Safe Technical Bulletin 055 , see link below
https://registeredgasengineer.co.uk/technical/technical-bulletin-055-duties-of-landlords/