Check gas appliances, safety executive warns landlords

This follows the sentencing of landlord Helen Jayne Beckett, from Addingham, West Yorkshire, last week for not complying with gas safety regulations.

She was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £1,500 costs after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 36(3) of the Gas Safety (Installations and Use) Regulations 1998 and contravening an ‘improvement notice’.

Between 25 July 2007 and 5 January 2009 she failed to ensure a gas fire in her rented property in Cleethorpes had been checked for gas safety.

The HSE served an ‘improvement notice’ on Ms Beckett in November 2008 but she still failed to do the necessary checks by the required date.

This put her tenant in danger of carbon monoxide poisoning.

HSE inspector Steven Kay said: ‘Landlords are legally required to comply with gas safety regulations, and HSE is concerned there may be other property owners like Ms Beckett who are not fulfilling their responsibilities and who may be putting their tenants at risk.

‘These measures are in place for a reason because if left unchecked, faulty gas appliances can have devastating consequences. 

‘This important legislation needs to be taken seriously by landlords to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning or even death.’

Inside Housing’s Safe as Houses campaign calls for action to stop preventable deaths from gas and fire. For more see our campaign page.

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