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Question Title: Gas Pipe Work
| Question: 13 |
| Is it the responsibility of the landlord to check pipework supplying gas appliances where the appliances belong to the tenant ? If so, at what interval ?
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| Answer: |
| Under the Gas Safety Regulations, where a tenant has purchased their own gas appliances, the landlord is exempt from the statutory requirement for annual checks yet still legally responsible for maintaining pipework leading to the gas installations in a safe condition. Unlike the statutory provisions which specify annual safety checks for appliances in rented property, the regulations prescribe no statutory time interval for checking the pipework. We asked the Health and Safety Executive (the government agency responsible for the gas safety regulations) for guidance but no standard interval was recommended. They advised: "the maintenance period would depend on the condition of the pipework and the particular circumstances in each case". In this situation, HSE recommended that the landlord should seek advice from a competent gas installer. We spoke to British Gas. They recommended that pipework is checked every 12 months. So the net effect of this exemption is that landlords will still need to carry out regular safety checks in such properties! It should also be noted that the standard appliance safety checks include a safety pressure test on the pipework.
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References:
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Pages:
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Hyperlinks:
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Letting Update Journal |
April 2000 page 13 |
letting-update-journal.html
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Letting Handbook |
Chapter 8 |
letting-handbook-and-factsheets.html
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Letting Factsheet No 7 |
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factsheet-7
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For more information, discuss on the Forum
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