Tenants At Risk From Dangerous Gas Appliances

Tenants have been warned to be careful after unsafe gas appliances were found in over a fifth of privately-rented accommodation in a Gas Safe Register study. This could mean up to 2.7million people could be at risk. Gas heaters were found to be the most dangerous appliance in rented accommodation, accounting for the majority of all unsafe appliances. 

2.7 Million Tenants At Risk

A fifth of people who rent their homes are unaware that their boiler should be safety checked every year, despite landlords being held responsible for ensuring that all gas appliances in their properties are safety checked by a qualified Gas Safe engineer every year. 37% of landlords were unaware of this duty of care. Jonathan Samuel, managing director for Gas Safe Register, said: “Gas safety can be a matter of life or death. The findings from the 122,000 inspections carried out by our team over the last five years show us that more unsafe appliances have been found in rented accommodation than in privately owned homes. However, any unsafe appliance can have devastating consequences, regardless of the type of property.“We are urging renters, homeowners and landlords alike to make sure they know to get gas appliances checked on an annual basis and, as a legal requirement, to ‘trust the triangle’ by using a Gas Safe registered engineer.”

LW Heating and Plumbing are experts in gas safety, and we recommend that tenants:

• Have gas appliances checked annually – call us to arrange for an annual inspection
• Know the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning – although carbon monoxide (CO) has no smell symptoms of poisoning include: headaches; dizziness; nausea; breathlessness; collapse and loss of consciousness.
• Look out for the signs of unsafe gas appliances – such as a yellow flame instead of a crisp blue flame and soot or staining on the appliance.

L&W Heating and Plumbing are Gas Safe Registered Experts for Newton, Warrington, Wigan and St Helens. Call us today for your Landlord gas safety checks and ensure tenants at risk are minimised.
Plumbers Wigan on 01942 417220
Plumbers St Helens on 01744 776140
Plumbers Newton Le Willows on 01925 394260
Plumbers Warrington on 01925 394260