If you let out a house or flat in Sidcup with a gas boiler, hob or fire, the short answer is yes: you need a gas safety check every 12 months. The rules on timing, paperwork and what counts as your responsibility catch out plenty of local landlords, so here is how it works in practice.
Under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, any landlord letting a property with gas appliances must have them checked every year by a Gas Safe registered engineer. This applies whether you own a single flat near Sidcup station or several 1930s semis across DA14 and DA15.
The engineer issues a Landlord Gas Safety Record, which most people still call a CP12 or gas safety certificate. There is no grace period. If the record runs out and a tenant is still living there, you are in breach from that day.
A check on a typical Sidcup rental with one combi boiler and a gas hob takes around 30 to 45 minutes. Larger homes, or older properties with a gas fire or a back boiler still in place, take longer.
The check covers every gas appliance and flue you provide, plus the pipework that serves them. Appliances the tenant owns, such as their own cooker, are not yours to certify, but the pipework and any flue they connect to still are.
Booking the check is only half the job. The record has to reach the right people at the right time, and you need to be able to prove it did.
You can have the check done up to two months early without losing any time. If it is carried out in months 10 to 12, the new record still runs from the old expiry date, much like an MOT. That makes it far easier to arrange access with tenants without cutting it fine.
For a property with a single boiler, most landlords in Sidcup and the wider Bexley area can expect to pay somewhere around £60 to £90. Each extra appliance, such as a hob or gas fire, usually adds £10 to £20. The final figure depends on the number of appliances, how accessible they are, and whether any faults turn up.
A gas safety check is not the same as a boiler service. Many landlords book both in one visit, which typically comes to roughly £110 to £160 depending on the boiler. A yearly service is often a condition of the manufacturer's warranty, so combining them tends to save a second call-out.
Letting a property without a valid record is a criminal offence. The Health and Safety Executive can prosecute, with unlimited fines and, in serious cases, a prison sentence. Landlord insurance may also refuse a claim if the record has lapsed, and Bexley Council can take an interest where housing conditions are poor.
If an appliance fails, the engineer will classify it as At Risk or Immediately Dangerous and, with your permission, turn it off or disconnect it. You then need to arrange the repair promptly and keep the paperwork showing it was fixed. Before anyone starts work, ask to see their Gas Safe ID card and check the back, which lists the types of appliance they are qualified to work on.
Yes. Any gas appliance you provide, even a single hob, needs an annual check along with the pipework that feeds it. If the property is fully electric with no gas supply in use, no record is needed.
You must show you took all reasonable steps, so keep written records of each attempt, ideally at least three, with dates and copies of letters or messages. You cannot force entry, but that paper trail is what protects you if the check runs late.
Yes. Rented homes need a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance such as a boiler or gas fire, though gas cookers are excluded. It is separate from the gas safety check, but worth asking the engineer to test while they are there.
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