The landlord gas safety record: every 12 months, copy within 28 days
The landlord gas safety record is the most predictable repeat work in the gas trade. Here are the rules, the two-month window, and how to turn the date into a booking.
A landlord gas safety record must be renewed every 12 months by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and the landlord must give every tenant a copy within 28 days of the check. For an engineer, that is a job with a date on it before the van has left the drive.
Most of the gas trade is reactive: a boiler fails, a phone rings. The landlord check is the opposite. The same properties come round every year, the same agents manage them, and the work found while you are there is yours to quote. This post sets out the rules, then shows how to make the calendar do the chasing.
What the landlord gas safety record requires
The duty comes from regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. A landlord must have every gas appliance and flue they provide checked for safety every 12 months by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and must keep a record of each check for two years.
The record covers the pipework, and the appliances and flues the landlord supplies. A tenant's own cooker is the tenant's, though the pipework feeding it is still the landlord's responsibility. The engineer records each appliance, the checks made, any defects and any action taken.
Existing tenants must get a copy within 28 days of the check. New tenants must get one before they move in. The 28 days is the landlord's deadline, not yours, but a letting agent wants the record the same day so it can be filed against the tenancy. The HSE landlord pages are the place to confirm anything in this section.
The two-month window that keeps the date fixed
Since April 2018 a landlord has been able to have the annual check done in the two months before the deadline and keep the original expiry date, in the same way an MOT can be renewed early without losing time. A check done earlier than that resets the date to 12 months from the new check.
For an engineer this is the useful bit. You can book the visit any time from ten months after the last one, which turns a single fixed day into an eight-week window. Agents with a portfolio will happily take a whole street on one morning if the dates allow it.
Why the gas safety record is the best repeat work in the trade
Three things make it valuable. It repeats on a known date. It comes in bundles, because agents manage dozens of properties and want one engineer they trust. And it puts you in front of every boiler in the portfolio once a year, which is where services, warning notices and replacements come from.
The failure mode is equally simple. The date sits on a certificate in a folder, nobody looks at the folder, and the agent books whoever answers the phone first. The engineer who wins the renewal is the one who asked before anyone else did.
Reactive work finds you. Compliance work is waiting for you on a date you already know.
TradeYoke
Turning 12 months into a calendar
The Plumber and gas trade in TradeYoke is in pilot with real gas businesses. It produces the Landlord Gas Safety Record as a PDF, files it against the job and the customer with its expiry date, and shows a certificates page that filters what is due within 30, 60 or 90 days. Read about the pilot on the plumber and gas page.
Because the record carries an expiry, the document library warns before it lapses, and the next visit can be booked as a recurring job the day the first one is done. A scheduled reminder to the agent, sent eight weeks out, lands at the start of the two-month window rather than on the day the record expires.
The same visit becomes an invoice from the job, and if it is not paid on the day it appears in the morning 'who owes me' email until it is.
Sending the record to the agent, and proving you did
Emailing a certificate from a personal inbox works until someone asks, six months later, whether it was ever sent. Sending from the record itself writes the send into the communications history with the date, the address and the file, so the question answers itself.
Agents also like consistency. A branded email with the record attached and the next-due date in the body reads as a service, not a favour. The same message wizard that sends the 'we're coming tomorrow' text sends the certificate, and replies land in the customer's thread. Gas engineers who also do electrical work run both on one account; the trades page lists every trade, and the plans on the pricing page are per business rather than per trade.
See also: the full Paperwork & compliance guide
Who needs what, and when
| Duty | Deadline | Who it falls on |
|---|---|---|
| Annual gas safety check | Every 12 months (early in the two-month window keeps the date) | Landlord, carried out by a Gas Safe engineer |
| Copy to existing tenants | Within 28 days of the check | Landlord or agent |
| Copy to new tenants | Before they move in | Landlord or agent |
| Keep the record | Two years | Landlord |
The annual landlord visit
- Confirm the Gas Safe registration is currentYour ID card is the first thing a careful agent checks.
- List every appliance and flue the landlord providesInclude the pipework; note tenant-owned appliances separately.
- Record defects and what you did about themA warning notice or a disconnection is part of the record, not a separate story.
- Date the next check inside the two-month windowTen to twelve months from this one keeps the expiry fixed.
- Send the record from the jobSo the send is on file with the certificate.
Questions people ask
Does a gas safety record expire on an exact date?
Yes. The record shows the date of the check, and the next one is due within 12 months of it. A check done in the two months before that date can keep the original expiry; a check done earlier resets it. Confirm the current wording on HSE's landlord pages.
What if the tenant will not give access?
The landlord must take all reasonable steps to get the check done. That means recorded attempts: letters, calls and messages with dates. Keep the evidence with the property record, and tell the agent in writing when access was refused so the file shows it was not the engineer who slipped.
Is a boiler service the same as a gas safety check?
No. The safety check covers safe operation of each appliance and flue; a service is maintenance recommended by the manufacturer. Many landlords book both together because the engineer is already there, and that is the upsell the annual visit was made for.
Do I need a record for a tenant's own appliance?
The landlord's duty covers appliances and flues they provide, plus the installation pipework. A tenant's own appliance is not the landlord's to certify, though a flue serving it may be. When in doubt, check HSE's guidance or Gas Safe Register.
Put the next landlord check on the calendar today
TradeYoke's plumber and gas pilot files the record with its expiry, reminds the agent in the window and books the next visit from this one. Start a 30-day trial of Essentials with no card.
