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Landlords: Check the Boiler for Safety

By: Tal Potishman

The law is very clear regarding the requirements from UK landlords when it talks about gas safety in a rented property. The law requires annual gas safety inspection to be undertaken by an approved CORGI registered engineer. According to the law, failure to comply with this requirement carries a fine of up to 5,000 and up to six months' imprisonment.
According to the law, landlords are required to ensure the following:
* No open flue gas appliance is located in the same room where people are sleeping, a bathroom or a shower room.
* All work relating to the repair, service or installation of gas appliances to be carried out by a CORGI certified engineer.
* Both mobile and fixed gas appliances in the property must be kept at a safe working condition and inspected on an annual basis by a Corgi registered engineer.
* Any work done to any gas appliance in the property is then approved through a series of safety tests by a CORGI certified engineer.
*The tenants must have unrestricted access to all appropriate documentation for all gas appliances (such as manuals, safety notices, instructions and labels).
*Dates of safety inspections should be noted clearly on a set of records. The records should also include any defects identified and work done on them. The occupiers of the property should have access to these records within 28 days of the inspection or before new tenants are moving into the property.
It is highly recommended for landlords to install carbon monoxide detection and alarm devices to protect the tenants or users of the property. Carbon monoxide is a lethal gas that occurs where there is an incomplete burning within the gas boiler, yielding a combination of a single molecule of oxygen with a single molecule or carbon. The gas, which has no odour or colour leads to breathing difficulties and sometimes to death. There are around 20 to 30 deaths in the UK every year as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Landlords have no choice but to ensure that all domestic boilers on the premise are checked and services annually. Large landlords, Local Authorities and Housing Associations find this statutory obligation to cause major concern due to the administrative complexity and logistics difficulty of the gas engineer gaining access to the boiler.
Evidence shows that it is difficult for the Corgi engineer to gain access to the property in cases of large blocks of flats. During business hours, most flat are empty while their occupants are at work. It proved to be difficult to get people to stay at home to wait for the plumber to come and conduct the safety check. Tenants are reluctant to lose a day's pay in order to stay at home for the landlord to comply with the Regulation.
In certain cases, landlords have to arrange for an entry warrant if the tenant fails to cooperate and allow access for the gas engineer. In addition to the administrative complexity, this adds substantial costs to the cost of the gas safety check (up to 500 for police attendance and potential repair).

Article Source: http://www.articlefinder.org

Tal Potishman, editor of Heating Central, writes articles about efficient heating, boilers, Kentish Town plumbers, underfloor heating and solar thermal. He specializes in helping save money by advising on efficient heating.

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