UK Landlord Forum / Life

A landlord such as myself has to have a gas safety certificate every 12 months.
Does the boiler being serviced count as having done it? Or is it a separate thing that must be done separately.
The last boiler service, from December, states, "The appropriate safety checks have been carried out on your appliance in accordance with current regulations". And states a 5-digit gas safety number.

My one other question. The 12 months since the last gas safety certificate have expired. However the property is fully managed by a letting agent. According to my contract with the letting agent. "The landlord agrees to comply with the gas safety (installation and use) regulations. Where gas is installed the landlord must provide Joe Bloggs Lettings, 7 days prior to the letting of the property, with a Landlord Gas Safety Certificate. This must be renewed on a  yearly basis. If one is not provided then Joe Bloggs Lettings will arrange for one to be carried out at the Landlords expense". The lettings agent emailed me and asked me if I wanted them to do the gas safety certificate. I replied and said yes that they could arange it, before the previous certificate expired. The previous certificate is now expired. So who is legally liable at this point if something were to happen before it gets renewed? Me (i.e. the landlord), or the agent?

Thanks for any help in advance. I will not be a 1-post wonder. At the very least will be back to check for replies and say thanks.

EDIT: I have made some edits a few hours after posting and after the first few comments. Apart from a few minor cosmetic things, there were really two main changes:
1 - I added in a couple of places that I am the landlord, to make this more clear and explicit.
2 - I decided it would be better to change the agent name in the quote from the contract to Joe Bloggs Lettings which is a fake name. I had originally wirtten the real name.

A gas safety cert would normally be issued when the service is done as it would involve one job.  A gas service is not a gas safety certificate. 

If it makes you sleep any easier I've never had a gas safety certificate for the house I live in.

I'd guess you are legally liable because just as they say they're going to do it doesn't mean it's their responsibility ultimately to check you are upto scratch? Also it's different to having the boiler serviced, as it covers more than the boiler. Like my last one said my cooker doesn't have a safety chain on it and marked me down for that.

I read it as you were the tenant.  I don't know who would ultimately be responsible if there was a death or an explosion, you or the agent, maybe you'd be deemed jointly liable.  Do you want to find out?  If not, contact a gas safe person first thing in the morning and get one arranged.

I am the landlord. I have changed it to make it more explicit. Thanks for your replies so far.

The Landlord would be liable. Get a GSC arranged pronto. Don't mess with gas. A boiler service is not a GSC. A GSC would - remember - cover all gas appliances in your property... boiler, hob, fires... whereas your boiler service is just that - a boiler service. Of course, you might say you only have that one gas appliance, but it still does not cover it.

Just as 'value-add' I'd also get a carbon monoxide detector installed, just in case you have not already, as they're really cheap, last for years and give that added peace of mind... not a regulation by any means, and I don't feel the same about electrical safety inspections, but with gas I try to do it all by the book and even go that extra mile.

Homeserve and british gas do plans which include a service and a GSC. The GSC is about £35.

Yes, I agree. 
I have a contract with British Gas that costs around £24 per month which includes anytime callout for problems, an annual service and a landlords certificate.
Essential contract that I would never be without.  Also it means that should something be wrong with the boiler they have a point of contact that doesn't involve coming through me, they go direct to British Gas.  Brilliant.

The boiler company replied to me and said it wasn't a gas safety certificate, and they didn't do them. To be honest I was already 80-90% sure it wouldn't count as a GSC before posting the question here, but wanted to confirm it.

The agent now accepts that they have to get the GSC, and said that they will do it, and I said I would expect them to get it done within a week and booked it within 48 hours. Knowing this agent, it will be a miracle if they can pull that off, even though it's expired.

The agent charges £75 for the gas safety certificate. I am aware that they probably pocket about half of that, and I could probably get it done myself for about £40, but I am a foreign landlord, I don't have the phone number of the tenant to arrange it, and there's the value of my time to consider, and I am really busy right now.

I am pretty sure the house already has a couple of carbon monoxide detectors in there.