As a landlord you have a legal obligation to ensure that the building you let is not dangerous for your tenants to inhabit. Normally speaking, gas and electrical systems and home equipment present the main risk of harm. It is crucial that you ensure that these systems are not dangerous.
FOR GAS INSTALLATIONS
You should make sure that all fittings and flues are looked after properly and in a safe condition. This means that you must have gas installations and appliances serviced every 12 months and you ought to keep a record of the service.
You ought to have a gas safety check carried out on all gas appliances and flues annually. A Gas safety certificate is a legal necessity.
Ideally, check gas installations and appliances straight away before the start of any new tenancy, even if the gas safety certificate is still up to date. Your managing agent should do this for you.
Only a Gas Safe registered plumber or central heating engineer is qualified to repair or certificate anything attached to the gas system. For example, dealing with boilers, flues or cookers. I myself live in London so I always look for a business by searching the internet and using the words "electrcian london".
Make certain that you keep a record of each safety check for 2 years. Your Gas Safe engineer will issue this certificate.
Also you should make sure you give a copy of the Gas Safe engineer’s safety check report and certificate to your tenants.
The statutory regulations are: Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. These regulations are enforced by the Health and Safety Executive.
FOR ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS
Whilst there is no obligation by law to have the fixed wire electrical system checked for safety, it is excellent practice and often a condition for a good property management agency, to provide a Periodic Inspection Report. If the system is safe and in good condition it will have Satisfactory Inspection listed on the PIR document. A check every 5 years is normally deemed acceptable.
All properties built since June 1992 are bound by building regulations to contain inter-connected, mains operated smoke alarms installed on every level of the property. In older properties this is not a necessity.
However, landlords are well advised to provide at least battery operated smoke alarms as a duty of care. If you fit battery-operated smoke alarms unfortunately, it is the landlord’s liability to test them regularly and for the batteries to be changed on a regular basis. This makes installing a mains operated smoke alarm look more attractive and cost efficient in the long term.
The Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994 and the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 demand that all electrical equipment in tenanted residential properties must be safe. E.g. Kettles, cookers, microwaves, televisions and washing machines. Technically a PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) procedure should be applied. This is a test for each appliance to ensure it is safe. A sticker with the pass date is stuck onto it and a record kept.
For landlords with multiple properties this can be time consuming and expensive. Ideally keep the quantity of electrical equipment you supply to the tenant at an absolute minimum.
Author Resource:
As a Landlord myself I have come across many problems over the years. But I am glad that I can say "none of my tenants have ever had an accident while living in one of my properties". I have always had my homes maintained by the same company , and over the years they have saved me a lot of money just by giving me some advise.
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