Changes to Gas Safety Rules

We are expecting some (very!) welcome changes to the gas safety rules to come in to force in early April.

Landlords will no longer have to wait until the last minute to complete their gas safety certificates, or have to shorten the annual cycle check to comply with the law.

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Complete gas safety record up to 2 months early

Instead of having a safety record running between specific annual dates, a new MoT-style check will allow landlords to have the certificate completed up to two months before the due date but keep the same annual check date.

The renewal date is known as the “deadline date” in the amended regulations and if a gas safety record is done no more than 2 months before the 12 months deadline date, it’s treated as though it were done on the deadline date (although both dates should be recorded so an audit trail can be shown).

“This avoids landlords waiting until the last minute and not gaining access or having to shorten the annual cycle check to comply with the law,” says the Health and Safety Executive, the agency responsible for enforcing gas safety laws.

Example:-

An engineer completes a gas safety record on 10 February 2018 which means the next check is due by 10 February 2019 (the “deadline date”). On 5 January 2019, the next gas safety record is completed (about 5 weeks early). The next check will be due on 10 February 2020 despite being done early because the deadline date has been retained under the new legislation. Under the previous rules using this example, the next record would have been due on 5 January 2020.

Resetting the clock

It’s important to remember there is only a two month window to complete the check early.

If the gas safety check is carried out at less than 10 months following the previous gas safety check this will have the effect of “resetting the clock” and the deadline date will now be 12 months from the date of this latest check.

Likewise, if the gas safety check is carried out more than 12-months after the previous gas safety check this will have the effect of re-setting the clock and the new deadline date will be 12 months from the date of this, later, gas safety check.

Replacement of individual appliances

In addition to this change, changes are also made if an individual appliance is replaced in a property.

Where an appliance has been replaced or added in a property, the gas safety record for that appliance may be done up to 2 months after the deadline date but this discretion may be exercised only once in relation to each appliance or flu and only in order to align the deadline date in relation to the next safety check of that appliance or flue.

Example:-

A boiler breaks and is replaced on 25 January 2018. The deadline date for the boiler to have it’s first check is 25 January 2019 (a new installation does not need a safety record for the first 12 months). However, there is a gas hob in the premises for which the next check due is on 15 March 2018.

A gas safety record is completed for the hob only on 15 March 2018 (because the boiler doesn’t need one). The deadline date for the hob is 15 March 2019.

We now have two deadline dates for the two appliances:

• Boiler – 25 January 2019
• Hob – 15 March 2019

The engineer can attend the property on 15 March 2019 and do both appliances. This is despite the boiler being overdue.

This will allow the aligning of both appliances in the premises to have the same deadline date of 15 March 2020. This overdue completion can only be done once for the boiler.

Record keeping

Another small change made by the amending regulations is that the last two records must be retained by the landlord as a minimum (although we would recommend keeping gas safety records for much longer – several years in fact).

Under the previous rules, it was that a record must be retained for at least 2 years.

This is a very subtle difference because theoretically, a gas safety record can be completed up to 14 months after being due and so if it were left as only two years, there could be a situation where only one record needed to be retained. The change fixes this potential problem.

Final comments

The new rules do not change a landlord’s obligation to carry out an annual gas safety check.

These new rules are going to massively helpful to larger portfolio landlords.

The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 come into force on April 6, 2018, subject to expected approval by Parliament (some official statements say 1 April).

 

More guidance on gas systems and inspections can be found on the HSE website here.

 

Source: landlords guild