How long is a gas safety certificate valid?

Anyone who lets accommodation with gas appliances they provide. HSE lists landlords, housing associations, local authorities, hotels and B&Bs, hostels, colleges and boarding schools. Taking in a lodger who pays rent makes you a landlord for this purpose. Family members staying rent-free are not covered, though HSE still recommends servicing. Appliances a tenant owns are the tenant’s responsibility. Leases of 7 years or more fall outside the landlord duty.

• Once 12 months pass without a new check, the landlord is in breach of regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. HSE enforces these rules.
• HSE says breaking them puts lives at risk and could result in a substantial fine and/or a custodial sentence.
• If a tenant refuses access, you need to show you took all reasonable steps. HSE suggests leaving notice, writing to explain the legal duty and making at least three documented attempts. A court decides whether that was enough.
• In England, a missing gas safety record used to block a Section 21 notice. Section 21 ended on 1 May 2026, but the safety duty itself has not changed.

1. 1

   Book a Gas Safe registered engineer

   Check their Gas Safe ID card and that they are qualified for the appliances you have, for example boilers, fires or cookers. HSE asks landlords to check competence for the specific work.

2. 2

   Aim for the 2-month window

   A check done in the 2 months before the deadline counts as done on the deadline. Book between month 10 and month 12 and you keep the same annual date.

3. 3

   Arrange access in writing

   Give the tenant a date by email or letter and keep the messages. If access is refused, try again and record each attempt.

4. 4

   Check the record before you file it

   It must list each appliance and flue checked and where it is, the engineer’s name, registration number and signature, the check date, the property address, your name and address, and any defect found with the action taken.

5. 5

   Deal with any defect

   Have a Gas Safe registered engineer put right anything recorded as a safety defect. Keep the invoice with the record.

6. 6

   Give tenants their copy

   Existing tenants within 28 days of the check. New tenants before they move in. For stays of 28 days or less you may display the record prominently instead.

A simple reminder plan: 60 days, 30 days, 14 days, 7 days before the expiry date. The calculator above puts these in your calendar.

• Each gas safety record until two further checks have been made after it. HSE describes this as at least 2 years.
• Proof each tenant received the record, such as the dated email with the PDF attached.
• Your written attempts to arrange access, if a tenant delayed or refused it.
• Invoices for any repairs to defects the engineer recorded.
• The letting agent agreement, if the agent has taken on the checks. HSE says the contract should make clear who does what.

• Booking the check more than 2 months early. The deadline then moves forward to 12 months after the actual check date.
• Leaving out portable or mobile gas heaters, or shared boilers that serve the flat. HSE says these need checks too.
• Assuming a property with gas pipework but no appliances needs nothing. There is no annual check, but the pipework must still be kept safe.
• Forgetting a lodger arrangement counts. A paying lodger makes you a landlord under the regulations.
• Giving the new tenant the record after they move in rather than before.