Can I delay my gas safety check?

Question

Answer

It’s not quite that simple, but you can be a little more flexible, which is good news for landlords.

Whilst it is best practice to ensure that your gas safety check is carried out in good time, and within twelve months of the expiry date, it is understandable that this is not always simple to schedule. There’s good news if you would like to introduce a degree of flexibility to their planning.

Following lengthy planning by a number of industry bodies all over the UK, on 6th April this year a new ruling was announced giving landlords the opportunity to be more flexible with the timing of their gas safety checks.

The simplest way of considering the change is too think of it as you would your car’s MOT. Whilst the certificate is good for a year, if you have the next test done two months early, the new certificate will not come into force until the old one expires. So, if your original certificate expires on the 1st august, but you have a new check done on 1st July, the new certificate will not take over from the existing open until 1st August, on the expiry date.

There is a two-month window of movement, allowing you to carry out a new check, two months before the due date, whilst retaining the existing expiry date. You could utilise this new-found flexibility to liaise with your gas safety engineer and schedule an appointment at a time that suits them, your tenant and you, rather than scrambling to try and timetable something for the final day of the existing agreement.