Landlord Winter Checklist: Gas Safety Before the Cold Hits

Winter is when heating problems in rented property turn into complaints, disrepair claims and emergency call outs at the worst possible moment. Most of it is avoidable with a bit of order in the autumn. Here is the checklist we work through with landlords across the North East.

1. Gas safety certificate, in date and on file

Every gas appliance in a rented property must be checked annually by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and you must give the tenant a copy of the record within 28 days of the check, or at the start of a new tenancy. You need to keep records for two years.

Do not let it slide into December. Availability collapses once the cold weather starts. Our guide on landlord gas safety certificates covers what the check involves, and we handle CP12 certificates across the region.

2. Service and certificate in the same visit

The safety check and the annual service are not the same thing. The check confirms the appliance is safe; the service keeps it working. Booking both together means one appointment, one disruption to the tenant, and a boiler that is far less likely to fail in January.

3. Carbon monoxide alarms

Alarms are required in rooms used as living accommodation containing a fixed combustion appliance, and they must be repaired or replaced once you are told they are faulty. Test them at the same visit rather than relying on a tenant to report a problem. Rules differ across England, Wales and Scotland, so check the current requirement for where the property sits.

4. Lag the condensate pipe

The single most common winter call out we get is a frozen condensate pipe. Where the pipe runs outside, a few pounds of insulation prevents a no heating emergency and an unhappy tenant. Our guide on frozen condensate pipes explains it.

5. Bleed and check the radiators

Tenants often will not mention lukewarm radiators until they are genuinely cold. If radiators are cold at the bottom or the system is slow to warm up, that is sludge, and it will get worse under winter load. A power flush resolves it properly.

6. Tell the tenant what to do

A short note in the property saying where the stopcock is, how to top up boiler pressure, what the thermostat does, and who to call out of hours prevents a lot of unnecessary emergencies. It also demonstrates you have acted reasonably if anything is ever disputed.

7. Know whether the boiler is worth another winter

If you are paying for repeat repairs on an ageing boiler in a rental, the sums usually stop working. Our repair or replace guide and the signs a boiler needs replacing will tell you where you stand, and new boiler installation starts from £1,790 including VAT.

Multiple properties

We work with landlords managing portfolios across Sunderland, Durham, Washington, Houghton le Spring and the wider North East, and we can schedule several properties into one run to keep the cost and the admin down.