Gas safety certificates (CP12)
Every gas appliance and flue you provide must be checked every 12 months by a Gas Safe registered engineer, the record given to your tenant within 28 days, and kept for two years. Of all the landlord compliance duties, this is the one where the consequences are most serious.
The MOT rule — renew early, keep your date
If the check is done in the two months before your current record expires, you keep the original anniversary date. Renewing early costs you nothing. That means you can book the engineer whenever it suits rather than waiting until the final week and risking a lapse because they can't attend — which is how most gas certificates actually expire.
The four duties
- Annual check of every gas appliance and flue you provide, within 12 months, by a Gas Safe registered engineer.
- Record to the existing tenant within 28 days of the check.
- Record to a new tenant before they occupy the property.
- Keep records for two years.
Supplying the record is a separate duty from doing the check. Landlords sometimes have a perfectly good certificate sitting in a drawer and are still in breach because it never reached the tenant.
If your tenant won't let the engineer in
The duty doesn't transfer to the tenant, so “they wouldn't let me in” is not on its own a defence. What protects you is evidence that you took all reasonable steps: repeated written requests explaining the legal obligation and the safety reason, proposed appointment dates, and a record of every attempt.
Keep that trail in writing rather than by phone. A dated message history is the difference between a documented effort and your word against theirs.
Why this one is different
Most landlord compliance breaches attract a civil penalty with a stated maximum — £5,000 for alarms, £30,000 for electrical. Gas safety is enforced by the HSE, has no fixed maximum fine, and serious failures can carry a custodial sentence. It is the one item on the compliance list where the exposure isn't really financial.
Which is an argument for making the annual date something you cannot miss rather than something you remember. RentFig's compliance tracker logs each certificate against its property, emails you before expiry, and sends new certificates to active tenants automatically — which covers the 28-day duty as a side effect of filing the document.
FAQ
How often do I need a gas safety check?
Every 12 months. Every gas appliance and flue you provide must be checked annually by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and you must hold a record of it. Unlike the five-yearly EICR, this one comes round every year, which is why it is the certificate most often allowed to lapse quietly.
Can I renew early without losing time?
Yes, and this is the most useful thing on this page. If the check is carried out in the two months before the current record expires, you keep the original anniversary date — so renewing early doesn't shorten your next cycle. It works like an MOT. That means you can schedule the engineer whenever it suits, rather than waiting until the last week and risking a lapse if they can't attend.
When do I have to give the record to the tenant?
Within 28 days of the check for an existing tenant, and before they move in for a new tenant. Both are duties in their own right — carrying out the check but failing to supply the record is still a breach, and it is a breach that is trivially easy to prove against you.
How long do I keep the records?
Two years. In practice keep them longer: they are the evidence you were compliant on a given date, and if a dispute or an incident arises later, the record is what protects you.
What's a CP12?
The industry name for the landlord gas safety record. CP12 is not a legal term — it comes from an old CORGI form number — but it is what engineers and landlords call it, so you will see both names for the same document.
Does it cover appliances the tenant owns?
No. The duty covers appliances and flues that you provide. A tenant's own gas appliance is not your responsibility to check, though the connecting installation pipework generally is. If a tenant has installed something themselves, that is worth addressing on its own terms.
What if the tenant refuses access?
You must show you took all reasonable steps. Keep a written record of every attempt — letters, messages, proposed appointments — because that trail is your defence. Repeated written requests, explaining the legal obligation and the safety reason, are the expected standard. Do not simply let the certificate lapse and hope; the duty stays with you.
What are the penalties?
Gas safety is enforced by the HSE and is treated far more seriously than other certificate breaches. There is no fixed maximum fine, and offences can carry a custodial sentence where the failure is serious. This is the one compliance item where the downside is not measured in thousands of pounds.
Disclaimer: This guide is general information for UK landlords, not legal or financial advice. Law and practice change — always confirm the current position, and take advice on anything that matters. Gas safety duties come from the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 and are enforced by the HSE. Confirm the current position with HSE guidance — and never treat a gas concern as a paperwork problem.