COVID-19: Advice for Landlords and tenants – updated 30 March 2020

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) has released new guidance for landlords, tenants and local authorities.

Section 3 of the document below provides guidance on property access and health and safety obligations in the context of Coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions.

View all this information at the gov.uk website

The advice includes:

• What does the current situation mean for repairs to my property?
• What about my legal obligations to provide regular gas and electrical safety inspections?
• What about the risk of catching the virus?

The MHCLG guidance and following HSE stated advice are aligned.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) state:

“Landlords have a duty of care to their tenants. This is a legal duty to repair and maintain gas pipework, flues and appliances in a safe condition, to ensure an annual gas safety check on each appliance and flue, and to keep a record of each safety check.

In the event you are unable to gain access to the property, e.g., refusal of access due to tenants self-isolating, or if you are unable to engage a registered gas engineer to carry out the work due to a shortage of available engineers, you will be expected to be able to demonstrate that you took reasonable steps to comply with the law. This will need to include records of communication with the tenant and details of your engineers attempts to gain access. You should seek to arrange the safety check as soon as all parties are available.

If you anticipate difficulties in gaining access as the COVID-19 situation progresses, you have the flexibility to carry out annual gas safety checks two months before the deadline date. Landlords can have the annual gas safety checks at their properties carried out any time from 10 to 12 calendar months after the previous check and still retain the original deadline date as if the check had been carried out exactly 12 months after the previous check.

You are encouraged to arrange your annual gas safety checks as early as possible, as a contingency against tenants being in self-isolation for a period of 14 days (in line with current guidelines), or gas engineers being unavailable due to illness. The two-month period to carry out annual gas safety checks should provide adequate resilience in most situations.

Current guidance from HM Government concurs that work can still be carried out in people’s homes where necessary, e.g., for reasons of safety, provided that the GOV.UK guidance on social distancing is followed. See ‘Advice for engineers’ for guidance for engineers and their employers regarding working in peoples’ homes.”

All Boiler Manufacturers are Holding Holiday Periods for Routine Servicing on boilers, and being late will NOT effect the warranty.

source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-and-renting-guidance-for-landlords-tenants-and-local-authorities