Safety warning to tenants

Do-it-yourself landlords may be shirking their responsibilities on gas and electricity checks. Chris Partridge reports

New research by the gas safety watchdog Corgi shows an alarming lack of concern over safety among tenants - 60 per cent of them do not ask to see the certificate that landlords must have to show the annual safety check has been made. And the situation is going to get worse next year, when DIY landlords are expected to begin breaking new electrical wiring regulations.

New research by the gas safety watchdog Corgi shows an alarming lack of concern over safety among tenants - 60 per cent of them do not ask to see the certificate that landlords must have to show the annual safety check has been made. And the situation is going to get worse next year, when DIY landlords are expected to begin breaking new electrical wiring regulations.

Part-time landlords tend to do up their properties to the same standards as they do their own homes, sometimes with a cavalier disregard for regulations and without realising the serious consequences should the worst happen.

In a nationwide survey of tenants, Corgi found that in Britain as a whole 60 per cent had not seen the current gas safety certificate, rising to more than 80 per cent in the North-east and Northern Ireland. And it is not down to ignorance - 85 per cent of tenants know that it is a legal requirement.

About 30 people a year die from carbon monoxide poisoning from defective appliances. It is a particularly insidious poison, the symptoms being rather like flu, causing drowsiness, headache, nausea, listlessness and pain in the chest. "The results of the survey are extremely alarming and highlight the need for all tenants - and their landlords - to be aware of the law and their safety," says Mike Thompson, chief executive of Corgi. "The message is clear - don't move into rented accommodation unless you have seen a copy of the current safety check record completed by a Corgi-registered installer."

Landlords must also be alert to electrical dangers, and at the beginning of next year changes to the building regulations will make it illegal to put in your own electrical wiring without getting clearance from the local building control officers, or having it tested by a qualified electrician.

According to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, every year, on average, 10 people die and about 750 are seriously injured in accidents involving unsafe electrical installations in the home. As electrical gizmos multiply in the average home, DIY fanatics are installing sockets every few feet along the skirting board, without much regard for safety. It is remarkably easy to leave a break in the vital earth wire, or lay out the wiring to pass all the current through an inadequately sized cable and cause a fire.

Amateur electricians will still be allowed to do small jobs such as replacing a single socket with a double, but adding new circuits will either have to be done by a professional or approved by a building inspector. Either way, many landlords will resent the increased expense, but it will be absolutely necessary to comply or fire insurance may be invalid.

Professional letting agents take the gas regulations very seriously, setting up computerised alerts to ensure the checks get done automatically, the certificates sent to the tenants and the bills to the landlords.

Sophie Danes, of the property management section of agent John D Wood, comments: "If any remedial work is required, this will be carried out and the invoice proving the work has been carried out will be attached to the certificate."

A gas safety check may require extensive work on the house, including relining the chimney, improving ventilation and possibly replacing defective appliances. If someone falls ill because of a defective gas appliance, both the landlord and the agent can be prosecuted, Danes notes.

The gas regulations are particularly irksome to economy-minded landlords, as Nik Madan, manager of country lettings at John D Wood in Weybridge, recalls: "We had an investment landlord in Richmond who was retired, lived off the rental income and was always looking for ways to maximise his return by badgering us to cut fees and other charges."

So he decided to save the cost of having gas safety checks by becoming a Corgi-registered gas engineer himself, reckoning he could earn extra money by doing work for other people as well.

"So off he went to train and in due course became accredited," Madan says. "The next time one of his gas certificates came up for renewal, he carried out the check himself. But having just completed his training, he was so much of a jobsworth he ended up condemning his own boiler."

To find a local Corgi-registered installer, or to check an installer's registration, call 0870 401 2300 or visit www.corgi-group.com.