New rules published around Gas Safety testing | Latest News

As a landlord, we have a duty of care to our tenants. For this reason, although over the past few weeks we have been restricted from carrying out general repairs and maintenance, we have continued our gas safety checking programme. This is a legal obligation under Regulation (36)(2) of the Gas  Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.

During the initial period of strict lockdown, the advice provided to landlords was to suspend the annual gas service where a tenant informed us they were shielding due to being classed as ‘clinically extremely vulnerable or self isolating due to being clinically vulnerable. Since the lockdown restrictions have been slightly eased, this guidance has now been updated and all landlords are now required by law to conduct gas safety tests in every property they manage. The exception is where a tenant is shielding due to being clinically extremely vulnerable. In this case we must carry out a risk assessment to determine if it is safe to suspend the visit.

Their guidance now states: “ Landlords should not suspend all gas safety checks at this time as it will unnecessarily put tenants at increased risk, particularly as people are spending most, and in some cases all, of their time at home.”

You can read the guidance in full here.  

 

We have carried out a full risk assessment for gas servicing and put in place several measures to protect both our customers and our staff.

• Our planning and administration team will explain the social distancing measures when the service is booked;
• Our service engineers will knock on the door and step back to allow 2m before the resident answers and again reinforce the social distancing measures. Residents will be asked to remain 2m away from the engineer during the visit, ideally in another room.
• Our engineers are sanitising their hands before and after each visit. They are also wiping down their tools after each visit and wiping down all surfaces touched within the property.
• In line with guidance, we are not using face masks except in circumstances where 2m social distancing cannot be maintained.

If you receive an appointment, we would be grateful if you can ensure our staff have access to your property at the allotted time and that you help us in keeping a safe distance as they carry out their work.