Gas safety, EICR and EPC deadlines explained

At a glance

Gas safety

If the home has a gas supply, a Gas Safe registered engineer must check every gas appliance, fitting and flue you provide every 12 months, and give you a gas safety record.

The "two months early" rule

You can have the next check done any time in the last two months before it's due and keep your original renewal date. So you never lose time by booking early.

Lettick applies this rule automatically when you add a new check date. Give existing tenants a copy of the record within 28 days, give new tenants a copy before they move in, and keep each record for at least two years. A yearly boiler service isn't a legal requirement, but it's recommended, and many engineers do both in one visit.

Source: HSE - Gas safety: landlords and letting agents

Electrical safety (EICR)

A qualified electrician must inspect and test the electrical installation at least every five years, or sooner if the report recommends it, and give you an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR).

• Give existing tenants a copy within 28 days of the inspection, and new tenants before they move in.
• Give a copy to the council within 7 days if they ask for one.
• If the report finds problems (codes C1, C2 or FI), the work must be done within 28 days, or sooner if the report says. Then confirm in writing to your tenants and the council within 28 days of finishing.

Councils can fine landlords up to £30,000 for breaches. Lettick tracks the five-year date, any shorter date your electrician sets, and the 28-day repair deadline.

Source: GOV.UK - Electrical safety standards in the private rented sector

EPC and the 2030 target

An Energy Performance Certificate lasts 10 years. You must give prospective tenants a copy free of charge, and the home must be rated at least E before you can let it, unless you've registered a valid exemption.

You can find any existing certificate on the EPC register by searching the postcode. Lettick stores the rating, the certificate number and the expiry date, and flags anything below C.

Source: GOV.UK - Minimum energy efficiency standard

Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms

• A smoke alarm on every storey that has a room used as living accommodation.
• A carbon monoxide alarm in every room used as living accommodation that has a fixed combustion appliance, such as a boiler, wood burner or open fire. Gas cookers don't count.
• Check they work on the first day of every new tenancy, and repair or replace alarms when a tenant reports a fault.

Councils can fine up to £5,000. Lettick asks you to log the day-one check for each tenancy.

Source: GOV.UK - Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms: guidance for landlords

Deposits

If you take a deposit, protect it in a government-approved scheme (DPS, TDS or mydeposits) within 30 days of receiving it, and give the tenant the scheme's prescribed information within the same 30 days. Get this wrong and a tenant can claim up to three times the deposit, and you may struggle to regain possession.

Source: GOV.UK - Tenancy deposit protection

Giving tenants copies, and proving it

For most of these rules, doing the check isn't enough: you also have to give your tenants a copy on time. If a dispute ever reaches a council or tribunal, the question will be "can you show when you gave it?"

Lettick's evidence-of-service log records the document, the date, how you gave it and who to. On the Pro plan you can send it through Lettick: your tenant gets a secure link, and you get a timestamp when they open it and when they confirm they've received it.