Gas Safety Requirements for Landlords and Tenants

Gas Safety Requirements for Landlords and Tenants

There are strict requirements that must be fulfilled in order to successfully serve a Section 21 Notice, in accordance with Section 21A of the Housing Act 1988.  One of the requirements is that the landlord must provide the tenant with a gas safety certificate before the start of the tenancy, if relevant.

In a previous case of Trecarrell House Ltd v Rouncefield [2020] EWCA Civ the Court of Appeal held that as long as the certificate was dated before the tenancy start date and served on the tenant before the service of a Section 21 Notice, the Section 21 Notice would be valid.

However, in the County Court appeal case Dean Byrne v Thomas John Harwood-Delgado [2022], the landlord had not obtained a gas safety certificate at the start of the tenancy, but it was provided to the tenant some 6-months later.  Judge HHJ Bloom said this case was different from Trecarrell House as there had been an obvious failure on the landlord’s part.  HHJ Bloom found that under the Housing Act 1988 a Section 21 Notice was not available to use as a way of ending a tenancy if the landlord had not gotten a relevant gas safety certificate prior to when the tenancy started, and that the landlord could not rectify this further down the line.

Although this case is not binding as it is a County Court case, it is very persuasive and is being applied by the Courts.  This could therefore provide more protection for tenants and provides them with additional defences against Section 21 possession proceedings.

Contact us

For more information on landlord and tenant matters and property disputes, contact Katie Tizzard, Chartered Legal Executive in Rix & Kay’s Dispute Resolution team. e. katietizzard@rixandkay.co.uk or t. 01273 766929.