Written for plumbers, gas and heating engineers, electricians, heat pump and drainage firms, bathroom installers doing their own plumbing, and small multi-trade firms serving landlords, anywhere in the UK.
The short version
- Sell a diary of due dates.Keep a property-by-property view of due dates, access attempts and certificates. Landlord work is won on reliability.
- Price the failed visit and record attempts.Three dated attempts and written notices are the landlord's usual evidence of all reasonable steps. Strike clauses making you responsible for deadlines or access.
- Never issue a record without a check.A backdated or invented record is a false record, risking prosecution and removal from the Gas Safe Register.
Landlord and agent work is steady, repeat work: gas checks, electrical reports, alarms and the remedials that follow. It is won on reliability and on a property-by-property view of due dates, access attempts and certificates. The legal duty stays with the landlord; your job is a correct record, on time. Sell the diary, never the promise that the duty is handled.
Know the dates you are selling
Landlord gas checks in Great Britain
Every appliance and flue the landlord provides is checked within 12 months of installation and then at intervals of no more than 12 months. A check in the 2 months before the due date keeps the anniversary. A copy goes to existing tenants within 28 days and to a new tenant before they move in, and records are kept until two further checks are done. Tenants' own appliances are excluded; the landlord's pipework and flues are not. Northern Ireland has the same rule under its 2004 Regulations. As of Oct 2026.
Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, reg 36
Electrical reports in England
Inspection and test at intervals of no more than 5 years. The report goes to tenants within 28 days and to the council within 7 days of a request. C1, C2 or FI items are remedied within 28 days or the shorter period in the report, with written confirmation within 28 days of completion. The maximum financial penalty is £40,000. Existing social tenancies need their first inspection and test before 1 November 2026. As of Oct 2026.
Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector and Social Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/312), regs 3 and 11, as amended by SI 2025/1043
Wales and Scotland have their own regimes, each with an annual gas check and an electrical report every 5 years, plus their own alarm standards. Always ask which nation the property is in.
As of Oct 2026, English landlords also need a smoke alarm on every storey with living accommodation and a CO alarm in every room with a fixed combustion appliance other than a gas cooker, with penalties up to £5,000. Legionella needs a proportionate risk assessment, and no certificate is required by law: sell the assessment and the fixes, never a "legionella certificate".
What to change in the agent's agreement
- Price the failed visit.
- Record every access attempt: three dated attempts and written notices are the usual evidence that the landlord took all reasonable steps.
- Strike any clause that makes you responsible for the landlord's legal deadline or for getting access. Attend when access is given and record each failed attempt.
- Cap service credits for missed response times, and exclude access, parts lead times and client delays.
- On contracts of 3 to 5 years, add an annual price review linked to a named index and month.
A record of a check that never happened is a false record. It risks prosecution and removal from the Gas Safe Register, and no portfolio is worth that.
Code honestly, even when it costs you the client
Code electrical reports to Electrical Safety First's Best Practice Guide 4 and the facts, never to sell remedials or please a landlord. Over-coding invites misrepresentation claims and scheme complaints; under-coding invites negligence claims. When an agent disputes a C2, recheck it against the guide and keep a code you can justify. A C2 left open past 28 days, or the shorter period in the report, is the landlord's breach; an unjustifiable code is yours.
What you can say when you sell
Misleading actions and omissions, and fake reviews, are banned, and the CMA can fine directly up to 10% of global turnover. Advertise Gas Safe registration only with a current number and MCS certification only for certified technologies, and never use an At Risk label as a sales tool. As of Oct 2026.
Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 Part 4 and Sch 20; CAP Code
The next step up from landlord work is maintenance contracts with housing associations, schools and facilities management firms, which come through prequalification with SafeContractor, CHAS or Constructionline.
Asked in Greymill
A record of a check that never happened is a false record. It risks prosecution and removal from the Gas Safe Register, and no portfolio is worth that.
Offer him this instead:
The three overdue: real visits on real dates.
The no-answer flat: three dated access attempts and written notices, the usual evidence that he took all reasonable steps.
All 12 flats: a flat-by-flat diary of due dates, attempts and certificates.
In the contract, price the failed visit. Strike any clause making you responsible for his deadline or for getting access. The legal duty stays with him.
Your selling point: a check in the 2 months before the due date keeps the anniversary (As of Oct 2026). So you can book early without moving his due dates.
Shall I draft your reply, with prices for the check, the failed visit and remedials?
Ask it about your own business
Paste this into Greymill with your own figures, and Sales & Quotes works it through for your business.
I run a plumbing, heating or electrical business in the UK. We work in [England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland]. I want more landlord and letting agent work. We hold [Gas Safe, electrical scheme and other registrations] and cover [area]. Draft a pitch to [agent or landlord type] built on a property-by-property diary of due dates, access attempts and certificates, with prices for the check, the failed visit and remedials, and flag the clauses in their standard agreement [paste] that I should strike.
More for plumbing, heating and electrical in the UK
- My diary is full but nothing is left over: what should my charge-out rate and call-out fee be?Your engineers are paid for every hour but you only bill some of them, so build the rate from the hours you sell, not the hours you pay.Read the lesson
- Busy all summer on installs, yet the bank account is emptiest when the diary is fullestBreakdowns pay on the day, but installs, heat pump vouchers and letting agents pay late, so plan cash by the week, not by the season.Read the lesson
- Which VAT rate goes on the invoice: heat pump, boiler, wet room or new build?The VAT rate depends on what you install, for whom and in what kind of building, and charging too little comes out of your own margin.Read the lesson
- Can my engineer legally take this job, and who has to notify it?Gas, electrical and water work each has its own gatekeeper, and a job is not finished until the right person has done it, signed it and notified it.Read the lesson
- I went out for a repair and sold a new boiler: can the customer cancel?A homeowner's cancellation right, the emergency exception and the call-out fee all turn on what you put in writing before you started.Read the lesson
- My engineers run their own vans and carry CIS cards, so they are self-employed, aren't they?Status, travel time, on-call, holiday pay and who may work on gas all follow how the work is really done, not what the paperwork says.Read the lesson
- The appliance is dangerous, or the customer blames my repair for a flood: what do I do first?When a job turns dangerous or a customer blames you for damage, the order of your first steps and what you write down matter most.Read the lesson
Open the interactive lesson · Every plumbing, heating and electrical lesson · What Greymill knows about the trade
Sources
The primary sources behind this lesson, checked Oct 2026.
- reg 36 as amended by SI 2018/139 (Landlord safety duties by nation)
- SI 2020/312, reg 11 as amended; SI 2025/1043, commencement for social tenancies (Landlord safety duties by nation)
- SI 2015/1693 as amended by SI 2022/830; reg 8 penalty (Landlord safety duties by nation)
- www.legislation.gov.uk (Landlord safety duties by nation)
- Fire and smoke alarms guidance (Landlord safety duties by nation)
- HSE landlords guidance (Landlord safety duties by nation)
- DMCC Act 2024 Part 4, Sch 20 (Winning work: domestic, landlords, heat pumps and commercial)
- Sections 3 (misleading) and 11 (environmental claims) (Winning work: domestic, landlords, heat pumps and commercial)
- Guidance (Winning work: domestic, landlords, heat pumps and commercial)
- MCS:2025 Customer Commitment transition; current BUS consumer-protection requirement (Winning work: domestic, landlords, heat pumps and commercial)
- s.113 (Contract red flags)
- s.111(1) (pay the notified sum), (3) to (6) (pay less notice, its contents, deadline and effect) (Contract red flags)
- TUPE 2006 reg 3(1)(b); reg 11 employee liability information (Contract red flags)
- IGEM/G/11; RIDDOR reg 11 (Hard cases: gas, water and heating)
- Building Regulations 2010 reg 18; council decision and requirements, not a promised certificate (Hard cases: gas, water and heating)
- CRA ss.49, 51 (Hard cases: gas, water and heating)
- What you can get (Hard cases: gas, water and heating)
- Class G (Hard cases: gas, water and heating)
- FCA DPC regime from 15 July 2026; RAO arts 36A and 60F (Hard cases: finance, tax, electrical and people)
- PERG 6 (Hard cases: finance, tax, electrical and people)
- reg 3(4); Best Practice Guide 4 (Hard cases: finance, tax, electrical and people)
- DESNZ asset-visibility call for evidence, Connect Direct; GOV.UK device-registration process (Hard cases: finance, tax, electrical and people)
- Pimlico Plumbers v Smith (Hard cases: finance, tax, electrical and people)
- reg 3 (Hard cases: finance, tax, electrical and people)
- Publication and withdrawal dates (Electrical work: BS 7671, part P, certificates, EICR coding, DNO and EV)
- reg 12(6A); reg 20 (Electrical work: BS 7671, part P, certificates, EICR coding, DNO and EV)
- Best Practice Guide 4 (Electrical work: BS 7671, part P, certificates, EICR coding, DNO and EV)
- EREC G98 and G99 (Electrical work: BS 7671, part P, certificates, EICR coding, DNO and EV)
- SI 2021/1467 regs 4 to 7, Sch 1 (Electrical work: BS 7671, part P, certificates, EICR coding, DNO and EV)