What Is A Gas Safety Certificate?

A gas safety record, also known as a gas safety certificate (CP12), is a document that is filled out when a gas safety check is carried out on gas appliances.

What does a gas safety record show?

• A description of all the appliances that have been tested
• The results of the gas safety tests that have been carried out on each appliance
• Any safety issues that have been identified during the checks
• What work needs to be carried out to rectify issues and improve safety
• The details of the engineer who carried out the checks, including their signature and the date the work was carried out
• Details of the property and its landlord (if the accommodation is rented)

Landlords also legally must ensure the pipework in a property is in a safe condition. Most gas safety record forms also include a section for engineers to record the results of tests on the integrity of pipework to indicate whether the pipework is safe.

Depending on the situation, a gas safety record may or may not be legally required, but we'd always recommend having one anyway.

For Landlords

A gas safety record is required by law to be held by all landlords of rental accommodation in the UK that have gas appliances present. A gas safety check must be carried out by a gas safe registered engineer annually, with a gas safety record completed and a copy provided to tenants within 28 days of the checks being carried out.

For Homeowners

If you're a homeowner then you are not legally required to have a gas safety record. However, it is highly recommended that you get all your gas appliances serviced every year by a registered Gas Safety Engineer. Make sure you ask your engineer for a copy of the gas safety record once they've completed the work. In most cases, they'll provide you with a copy anyway, but make sure to ask if none is forthcoming as it's always good to have a copy.

To find out more about why you need a Gas Safe Engineer to carry out any work inside your property, just read our article on why you should use a Gas Safe Engineer.