gas safety certificate
What happens if a gas safety certificate expires?
The certificate does not expire quietly. From the day it runs out the property is let without a valid gas safety record, which is an offence under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. There is no grace period and no fixed penalty to pay your way out of. The fix is one call to a Gas Safe registered engineer.
- how often
- every 12 months
- who can do it
- a Gas Safe registered engineer
- covers
- every gas appliance and flue
- copy to the tenant
- within 28 days of the check
- copy to a new tenant
- before they move in
- keep the record
- 2 years
The date to hold
A gas safety check is due every 12 months, and the date on the record is the one that matters. Book the check in the two months before it runs out and the new record can keep the same anniversary date, so the cycle does not drift earlier every year.
Leave it past the date and the next record starts a new cycle from the day of the check. That is the quiet cost of being late: the anniversary you have remembered for years moves.
Already lapsed
Book the check now. An engineer can usually attend within days, and the record is issued the same day. Give the tenant a copy within 28 days of the check.
Then write the new expiry date somewhere that will tell you before it happens again. That is the whole reason this company exists.
if it lapses
unlimited fine · up to 6 months
Gas offences are prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive, and the fine on conviction is unlimited, with a prison term of up to six months available. Councils can act separately on the condition of the property. These are the maximums a court may reach, not a bill that arrives in the post.
Written by OriginAI and kept current as the rules move. Last reviewed 5 September 2026. It sets out the dates as we read them and is not legal advice.