New landlord? Your first 90 days of gas compliance
By Jordan Valentine-Dunn, Gas Safe registered engineer · 9 July 2026
A new landlord letting a property with gas appliances needs three things from day one: a gas safety check by a Gas Safe registered engineer before their first tenant moves in, a copy of that record in the tenant's hands before they get the keys, and a system for renewing it every 12 months. The rest is habit.
What do you need before your first tenant moves in?
- A current gas safety check by a Gas Safe registered engineer, covering every gas appliance and flue you provide. If the property does not have a valid record, arrange one before the tenancy starts, not after.
- A copy of that record given to the tenant before they move in. In England, failing to do this can also affect a later Section 21 notice, so keep proof you handed it over.
- Working carbon monoxide alarms fitted where required, and tested before move-in day.
What should the first 90 days look like?
Day one: find the actual record
Not a mention of it, the document. Check the date of the check and work out the next-due date. If you bought the property with a tenant in place, do this the week you complete; inherited paperwork is where gaps hide.
First month: set up the tracking
Put the next-due date somewhere that will actively remind you, not in a drawer. One property feels easy to remember. The point of doing this now is that it stops being easy the moment you have two, or a busy year.
By day 90: settle the rhythm
Know your renewal month, know which engineer you will call, and file the gas record alongside your EICR and deposit paperwork so everything for the property lives in one place. From here, gas compliance is one booked visit a year.
What are the annual duties after that?
- Renew the gas safety check every 12 months. There is no grace period, so track the next-due date rather than trying to remember the last check.
- Give existing tenants a copy of each new record within 28 days of the check.
- Keep every record for at least two years, somewhere you can find it quickly.
Which mistakes catch new landlords most often?
Three come up constantly. Relying on the tenant, the agent or the engineer to remember the renewal; letting the date drift earlier each year by renewing whenever happens to be convenient; and storing records somewhere they cannot be found when a council or a solicitor asks. All of them are habit problems rather than knowledge problems, which is why the first 90 days matter so much: the tracking you set up with one property is the same tracking that still works when you have five.
Where does gas fit in the wider first-year checklist?
Gas safety sits alongside deposit protection, an EICR for electrical safety, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, right-to-rent checks and landlord insurance. It is rarely the biggest job on that list, but it is the one with a hard annual deadline and no grace period, so it is the one worth systematising first. Get the gas rhythm right in the first 90 days and the same habit carries the rest of the list with it.
This is general information, not legal advice for a specific tenancy, and some duties differ across the UK nations. The gas safety check itself must be carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer, the only person who can issue a valid record.