Landlord Gas Safety Certificates in EssexEvery Appliance Checked, CP12 Issued Same DaySo Your Tenancy Stays Compliant and Insured

Landlords, letting agents and portfolios

Legal responsibility for the gas safety check always rests with the landlord, even when a letting agent books and pays for it. FHP Heating works directly with both — taking instruction from an agent managing several properties on a landlord's behalf, or dealing with a landlord directly for a single buy-to-let — and either way the certificate and any defect record go to whoever needs it.

For portfolios, we can align renewal dates where practical, keep a simple record of when each property is next due, and use the two-month early-renewal window built into the regulations so a new certificate can be issued before the old one expires without losing the original anniversary date. This matters most for landlords managing five, ten or more properties, where one missed date is easy to lose track of among the rest.

• Single buy-to-let landlords
• Portfolio landlords with multiple properties
• Letting and managing agents instructing on a landlord's behalf
• HMO landlords with additional licensing requirements
• New landlords letting a property for the first time

What gets checked, appliance by appliance

Gas boilers are checked for safe operation, case seals, ventilation and flue condition, along with gas rate and operating pressure where accessible. Gas fires and wall heaters are checked for combustion, ventilation and flue clearance, which matters particularly in older properties with chimney-based flues. Gas hobs and ovens are checked for burner operation, flame picture and, on freestanding cookers, the stability restraint required by the regulations. Any gas water heater is checked in the same way as a boiler.

Where a fault is found, it is classified by severity — from an immediately dangerous appliance that gets capped off on the spot, through 'at risk' faults that need timely correction, to advisory notes that do not affect safety but are worth knowing about. You get that classification in plain English on the day, not buried in technical shorthand.

Access issues and how they get resolved

The most common reason a CP12 lapses is not refusal by the landlord but failure to get into the property, particularly with tenants who do not respond to contact. The regulations require landlords to take 'all reasonable steps' to gain access before a deadline is missed, and to keep evidence of those attempts — letters, texts, calls — should it ever be questioned.

In practice this means giving reasonable notice in writing, following up by phone or text, and, where a tenant remains unresponsive, escalating with formal letters that document the attempts. We can time visits around a tenant's working hours, arrange access through an agent holding keys, or attend early morning or evening appointments to reduce the number of failed visits before a deadline.

Combining the CP12 with other work

Because the engineer is already on site with the boiler open and the property accessed, the CP12 check and the annual boiler service are commonly done together in a single visit, which is usually more cost-effective than two separate appointments and easier to arrange with a tenant who has already granted access once.

Where the check reveals a fault, we quote a fixed price for the repair before starting, and in many cases can carry it out the same visit rather than leaving the property with a defect noted and no action taken. For landlords also managing central heating, power flushing or boiler installation across the same properties, we keep all of that history against the address so nothing needs re-explaining at the next visit.