Gas Safety Regulations for Estate Agents: What Are the Rules?

The gas safety is a prime concern for the UK’s authorities. It is a sensitive matter right from the time when gas was introduced as an energy source in domestic and commercial properties. Over the years, many serious gas-related accidents occurred that resulted in the loss of properties and also serious injuries to the occupants.

Natural gas is a much safer alternative than conventional fuels like coal and oil. However, gas can also be far more dangerous on certain occasions than coal and oil. It may result in fire and explosion in case of a leak. It may also turn out to be fatal in cases of carbon monoxide emission. There carbon monoxide poisoning has resulted even in deaths. Gas is, nevertheless, rated safer unless it is within the pipework and appliances.

The risks associated with the use of gas have made the concerned authorities regulate its use with the help of specific rules and regulations. In conformity with this trend, the UK introduced gas safety legislation that made the landlords accountable for ensuring the safety of their occupying tenants against the potential dangers of gas. A question often arises here on the topic that determines whether gas safety legislation has estate agent coverage or not.

Gas Safety Regulations – What are these Meant for?

Before exploring in the role of estate agents concerning gas safety, we will first need to acquaint ourselves with some of the most common gas safety regulations. To start us off, the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 lay down the basic mechanisms that stipulate the use of gas for residential and non-residential properties. These have been redefined through various amendments, most relevantly the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 as an attempt to make them more workable and consumer-friendly.

Some of the relevant provisions of the gas safety regulations are summarized here to understand the role of different stakeholders in gas safety:

• These are applicable to the entire UK and Ireland. 
• Landlords are responsible for ensuring the safety of their tenants against the potential threats associated with the usage of gas in their rented-out properties.
• The landlords are responsible for arranging annual gas safety inspections on all the gas appliances installed on their properties. This can only be done by a gas-safe registered engineer. A gas-safe registered engineer is one who is registered with the Gas Safe Register, the official body responsible for their registration.
• Upon completing the annual gas safety inspection, the gas-safe registered engineer is authorized to issue a Gas Safety Certificate, commonly known as CP12. This certificate will be valid for one year. It needs to be renewed before its expiry, which can be done by arranging an annual gas safety inspection, preferably during the last two months before the expiry of the current certificate. 
• The annual gas safety inspection includes all the gas appliances, including flues, chimneys, and boilers.
• The landlord is only responsible for the safety of gas appliances installed by them in the rented-out property. Any appliances installed by the tenant do not fall under the responsibility of the landlords. The tenant is responsible for ensuring the safety of such gas appliances. 
• The landlords are required to provide a copy of the gas safety certificate to the tenants within 28 days of the annual gas safety inspection. 
• The landlords are bound to keep their rented-out properties gas-safe all the time. It means they must ensure that a valid gas safety certificate is always available for that property. It further implies that no such property can be left without having a valid gas safety certificate. 

A careful review of these important features of the gas safety regulations reveals that the entire responsibility of gas safety rests with the landlords. We don’t see any responsibility on the estate agents in this exercise. But that is not the factual status. The estate agents, also called letting agents, have a role in this exercise under some specific circumstances.

Estate Agents – Roles and Responsibilities

An estate agent in the UK can either be an individual or a company. The estate agent plays a very important role in selling or letting out property. While it is not compulsory to involve an estate agent in such a transaction, it is often good for the landlord or a house owner to seek the services of estate agents.

Estate agent is a person who is particularly trained and experienced for letting, selling, or managing the affairs of the properties. They do not necessarily require any special qualification; marketing skills are only required.  They are intermediated between the buyer and seller or between the landlord and the tenant. On a broader spectrum, businesses or firms dealing with such property-related matters may also have professional solicitors on their panel who would help complete the transactions within the legal framework.

This finally came under the ambit of law under the Estate Agents Act, 1979. It was then further improved under the Consumer, Estate Agents, and Redress Act 2007. As of today, the whole process with regard to the residential sales-related matters of the properties is governed under the Consumer Protection Regulations of 2012.

There are different private associations of estate agents looking after sales, rental matters, and such other business processes of its members.

Role of the Estate Agents in Gas Safety Inspections

Under the regulations and the norms of the business of Estate Agents in the UK, it is required that a proper business contract should be made between the estate agent and the landlord, before starting the venture. That’s the main document, which explains whether the estate agent is responsible for gas safety, as required by the Gas Safety Regulations 1998.

Usually, the estate agents are not given this role by the landlords. Still, in many cases, the contract between them may consist of clauses that make the estate agent assume the role of a landlord to sell or rent a particular property. If the contract contains such clauses, the estate agent would be responsible for the following under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, as amended from time to time:

• They must ensure that the property being sold or rented out is gas-safe and that a valid gas safety certificate is in place for the gas appliances installed in that property.
• If the property does not have a valid gas safety certificate or the same will expire in the next two months, the estate agent would be responsible for arranging an annual gas safety certificate in coordination with the landlord.
• The estate agent will also keep the gas safety check record until the property is sold or rented out.
• In both cases, the estate agent will be required to provide a valid gas safety certificate to the new tenants or the new landlords of that particular property within 28 days. 
• If the estate agent fails to fulfill these requirements, as per the contract, he may face legal consequences, especially in a gas accident.
• Suppose the landlord assigns a particular property to an estate agent to manage the affairs of that property. In that case, the estate agent will be responsible for fulfilling all the legal requirements of gas safety, assuming the role of an agent for the landlords. This includes conducting an annual gas safety certificate, getting it, and giving a copy to the tenants. 

So, an estate agent has a legal role in annual gas safety inspections under the gas safety regulations only if that is agreed with the landlord. Assuming that the contract between the landlord and the estate agent does not have such provisions, the estate agent has no responsibility for the gas safety of the property in reference.

Conclusion

The landlords are mainly responsible for the gas safety in the properties they let out. Landlords are supposedly arranging an annual gas, safety inspection under the 1998 Gas Safety, Installation and Use Regulations which they also have to carry out to obtain a gas safety certificate for their respective properties.

Suppose the landlord is considering engaging the services of an estate agent either to sell or to manage and let a house. The contract in the above instance must be applied. An estate agent will act in an agency relationship based upon the terms of the contract. This includes any contract given to them by a landlord providing them with the responsibility of organizing the yearly gas safety inspection on the landlord's behalf; this generally involves estate agents with particular roles regarding an agent in estate management.