Gas servicing and access to your home

We are responsible for making sure your gas appliances are in good working condition.

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We have a legal responsibility to carry out an annual safety check on all your gas appliances – including pipework and flues - to ensure your safety and that of your neighbours and surrounding areas.

A Gas Safe registered engineer will attend your property to carry out these extremely important checks. A full gas service and safety check will be carried out on your boiler and any other gas appliance that we own.

You will be advised of your appointment via a letter from the engineers. If the appointment is not convenient for you it can be rearranged either directly with them or through our Customer Services.

The engineer will:

  • on arrival show you ID to prove who they are
  • inspect and service all gas appliances to check they are safe and are being used correctly
  • keep a record of your annual gas service
  • give you a copy of your annual gas safety certificate
  • fit smoke detectors in your home if you do not already have them


Your own gas appliances, such as a cooker or a fire, will be given a visual check and any defects or concerns reported to you directly.

Missed appointments

As outlined in your tenancy agreement, it is your responsibility to allow us access for one morning or afternoon a year to carry out these checks.

If you do not allow us access at the appointed time, we will make every attempt to contact you - by phone call, email, and text – to rearrange the appointment for a time convenient to you. We will also write to you informing you of our access procedure.

We will then instruct the engineer to place a sticker on your door to prompt contact. If contact is still not forthcoming, we will ask our solicitor to write to you requesting formal access. At every step of the way, we will try calling you and asking that you make a suitable appointment to allow our engineer access. We will also ask your Housing & Neighbourhoods Officer to visit.

When your previous gas safety certificate is due to expire and we have still not gained access, we will begin one of our final steps. This will either be to prepare the paperwork necessary to gain a court injunction for access, or to send you an Intention to Cap letter, which means we will cap your gas meter on the expiry date to ensure no gas can enter the property, therefore making it Gas Safe.

There will a £50 charge, payable by you, if and when we need to re-attend to uncap and carry out a service if this action is taken. Court action means all court costs involved in the injunction, and any fine imposed by the judge, will be added directly to your rent account, should the judge deem we have taken all reasonable steps to gain access for the service.

The majority of our tenants allow access on the first or second visit. However, there are still a small number where we have had to take legal action. In the last 12 months we have won three cases at court and in each instance been awarded costs by the judge against the tenant.

Rearranging appointments

We are happy to take your calls to rearrange appointments for you as and when necessary. Due to the process we have to follow, however, in cases where appointments have been re-booked a few times we may advise you that we cannot change it again. This is only in extreme cases where your current certificate is due to expire.

Mutual Exchanges

Your gas meter will be capped and uncapped at times of Mutual Exchange. We will strive to cap the meter to the property on a Monday morning for the outgoing tenant and return Monday afternoon to uncap for the incoming tenant. This is to keep a trail of gas appliances in the property and also to ensure that the property is Gas Safe for the new tenant. Tenants are responsible for ensuring they provide access for this process to take place.

Keeping up to date

Please help us keep in contact with you by ensuring your details are kept up to date.

Tenants should also ensure they know when their next service is due. In cases of holidays, or where you may be away from the property for a length of time, please give us a call and we can cap the meter to make it safe while you are away or we can arrange suitable appointments for you around your needs.

You must:

  • allow us prompt access to your home every year so we can carry out these inspections
  • keep any appointments that we make for inspections and servicing
  • let us know if you have to rearrange an appointment
  • get written permission from us if you want to replace a gas appliance
  • remove all ornaments and other items from areas where the engineer needs to work during the service or inspection
  • turn off any fire being inspected for at least an hour before your appointment
  • ensure your gas cooker is clean if it is being checked
  • make sure the engineer can easily access the boiler and meter cupboards

If you do not allow access, you will be breaching the terms of your tenancy agreement and we may have to take legal action to gain entry to your home.