Landlord Gas Safety Certificates

CP12 is the old form number that stuck. Properly it is a Landlord Gas Safety Record, and it lists every gas appliance and flue checked, where each one is in the property, the date, the engineer's name and registration number, the landlord or agent details, and any safety defect found along with what was done about it.

Yes. The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 apply across England, Wales and Scotland, and they put an annual check on every gas appliance and flue a landlord owns and provides for a tenant's use. The Scottish Repairing Standard sets out the same duty for private lets alongside the rest of a landlord's obligations.

The regulations set out what has to be examined on each appliance: the effectiveness of any flue, the supply of combustion air, the operating pressure or heat input, and whether the appliance is operating safely. That is done appliance by appliance rather than as one look at the boiler.

Every 12 months. The duty runs per appliance and flue, so if an appliance is added to the property partway through the year it joins the same annual cycle.

Yes. Since the 2018 amendment to the regulations the check can be carried out up to two months before it is due while keeping the original deadline, so the next one still falls 12 months from that deadline rather than from the day we attended. Say so when you book and the dates are handled that way.

Yes, and there are two separate deadlines. An existing tenant must be given a copy within 28 days of the check being completed. Anyone taking on a new tenancy must be given a copy before they move in. Keep something showing when and how you sent it.

At least two years. If you use the two-month early allowance, hold each record until two further checks have been carried out, because the file is what shows the annual cycle was never broken.

You are told what was found and how serious it is, and with permission an unsafe appliance is disconnected or capped so it cannot be used. The record is still issued on completion rather than held back, and it is then supplemented with a note of the remedial work once that has been carried out.

You need to be able to show you took all reasonable steps. That means writing to the tenant explaining the legal duty, leaving notice of each attempted visit, and keeping the paper trail; HSE inspectors look for at least three attempts. In Scotland a landlord can also apply to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland under the right of entry procedure. Tell us when a visit fails and you get it in writing for the file.

Your duty covers the appliances and flues you own and provide. Where a tenant has installed their own gas appliance you remain responsible for the associated installation and pipework, but not for that appliance itself. We will still say so if something on it looks unsafe.