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Gas engineers report increase in being shut out of properties during lockdown
Gas engineers are finding it increasingly difficult to access properties to carry out compliance work as more and more tenants seek to follow social distancing measures.
Data from Gas Tag, the gas safety monitoring company, shows that the portion of compliance checks where engineers were unable to access a property (UTA) nearly doubled after lockdown measures were introduced at the end of March from a high of 25% to 46% a week later.
Since then UTA rates have remained high, with engineers failing to gain access peaking at 49% on 15 April. On that day, 26% of UTAs were recorded as being a result of residents self-isolating.
The most recent data, shared with Inside Housing, showed that UTA rates remained constantly above 30% for the rest of April.
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John Roche, chief operating officer at Gas Tag, said: “Housing providers up and down the country are working in an increasingly challenging environment where they are expected to carry out their regulatory obligations despite it becoming harder and harder to gain access to properties.
“Our data shows that incidents of residents self-isolating are on the rise and this is increasing the risk of housing providers becoming non-compliant despite their best efforts.”
Industry groups have been lobbying the government to change the rules around gas safety to allow certificates to be valid for an extra six months during the coronavirus pandemic.
But the Health and Safety Executive has refused to grant such an extension and has instead insisted that landlords must demonstrate they have taken “reasonable steps” to gain access to properties.
Claire Heyes, chief executive of the Association of Safety and Compliance Professionals, warned that nearly all housing associations, local authorities and ALMOs will become non-compliant in the coming weeks.
