Average cost for gas safety cert & advice re electricity regs

dougk_2

This excerpt is from the guide : "Assured and assured shorthold tenancies
a guide for landlords" avilaible from what was the ODPM (now Department for communities and local government!)

Safety of gas and electrical appliances
You are required by the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations
1998 to ensure that all gas appliances are maintained in good order
and that an annual safety check is carried out by a tradesman who is
registered with CORGI (Council for Registered Gas Installers). You must
keep a record of the safety checks and issue it to the tenant within
28 days of each annual check. You are not responsible for maintaining
gas appliances which the tenant is entitled to take with him or her at
the end of the letting. Further guidance is contained in the leaflet
“Gas appliances – get them checked, keep them safe”, available, free of
15
charge, from Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Books, PO Box 1999,
Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA, telephone 0800 300 363.

You should ensure that the electrical system and any electrical
appliances that you supply such as cookers, kettles, toasters, washing
machines and immersion heaters are safe to use.


There are however no set inspections or certificates stated for electrical installations or equipment as opposed to the Gas installations.

Chick

Hi there all,

I have to get the gas & electic checks done before I rent out my flat.
How do I get someone in- do I literally just phone a local gas/electrician company & get somebody in (CORGI registered of course)...

My potential letting agents have said that they can get this sorted for me but I'd rather do it myself as I am still living in the property, also I reckon it will be cheaper if I sort it out myself rather than get the agent to do it.

Thanks, Chick

seven-day-weekend

I pay £296.00 a year to British Gas and for this they service the boiler once a year, check the gas hob (these are the only two gas appliances we have), issue the Landlord's Gas Safety Certificate and are on a 24-hour 365-day call out if the central heating/boiler breaks down.

seven-day-weekend

Chick wrote:

Hi there all,

I have to get the gas & electic checks done before I rent out my flat.
How do I get someone in- do I literally just phone a local gas/electrician company & get somebody in (CORGI registered of course)...

My potential letting agents have said that they can get this sorted for me but I'd rather do it myself as I am still living in the property, also I reckon it will be cheaper if I sort it out myself rather than get the agent to do it.

Thanks, Chick

I phoned round loads, and actually couldn't get anyone to come and do the gas certificate, which is why I went with British Gas in the end.

clutton_2

i would let the agent do it for you - he will know someone reliable, get them to tell you how much it will be before you agree. Make sure for the gas they leave you two copies of the Cert - one white and one pink for landlord and tenant. Make sure the electrician leaves the NICEIC report when he is finished. Gas certs cost between £45-£100 depending on the engineer.

in the last couple of days i heard of a gas engineer wanting £79 for the inspection and a further £25 for the cert, plus VAT - "having a laugh" was my response to that !!

itsakidsworld

My son is a fully qualified plumbing and heating engineer, Corgi registered.

Working for a local rental agent he charges £35 for a standard gas safety inspection. This covers the boiler, one gas fire and gas cooker. He does very well by charging this as it takes him about one hour.

The average quotes appear to be around £50-£70 plus any repairs obviously.

If he is working for an independant customer he charges £45, which I feel is very good. I have tried to make him aware of how important it is to look after people and not to get to greedy just because plumbers are in demand.

I realise that location is very important to cost due to traffic congestion. We live in a quiet location which is easy for access to where he needs to be.

clutton_2

what a cheap corgi chap !! i wish him well.

I do, however, think he is underpricing himself just a little. i would have thought that £45-£55 - £45 for just a boiler, and maybe an extra £10 if there are appliances as an absolute minimum. After all , landlords can offset this cost against their tax.

"""Working for a local rental agent he charges £35 for a standard gas safety inspection."""

i bet you anything you like that the agent adds £10-£20 onto that when he charges the landlord !!!

musey

I pay £38 + vat per gas safety check, this covers all gas appliances in the property so is the same if there is 1 gas appliances or 3. This is a special rate we negotiated for members of our landlord's association. The company in question are excellent, they only do the tests therefore all our members can be assuared that any work detailed as being required actually is required as the company in queston have no benefit in "making it up" as they do not do any additional works only the testing.

For electrical safety checks I pay £100 + vat per property.

itsakidsworld

Clutton,

Thanks for your comments. I understand what you say about charging a little more but we feel that it is important to keep to a low to middle price range.

He gets alot of work this way from the agents and word spreads. I cannot stress to you how much effort we have put in to make him understand that you have to look after people. Our theory is that if we get it correct with our first ( as we did not get a parents manual at birth;) ) then it should be easier teaching the younger ones in our family!!

On the gas certificates, he can get a batch of 10 and have a long day and they are all done and he has made good money. The agents are happy as he is reliable and if they add on to his costs then I also feel fair enough, but only a little for admin!!

clutton_2

"""I pay £296.00 a year to British Gas"" - i would not even dream of paying for this service. in 6 years, i have only ever had one boiler break down, and that was because of severe weather conditions and water pouring into a house, and in fact, it dried out and fixed itself. As long as you know a local good reliable corgi gas engineer who is wiling to turn out for the very rare emergency, why spend this money. i assume this is for one house only ? What you are paying is nearly £5 a week for what ? - for a "just in case" - mind you, i do hate BG

rant over !!