Gas Safety, EICR, EPC — the acronyms are familiar to most landlords, but the specifics of what's actually required, how often, and by whom are easy to get slightly wrong. Here's a plain-English rundown of what's legally required for a UK rental property today, and what's coming.
Gas Safety Certificate (CP12)
Required annually, but only if the property has gas appliances — gas central heating, a gas hob, or a gas oven. All-electric properties don't need one. The inspection must be carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and a copy must be given to the tenant within 28 days of the check, or before a new tenant moves in.
- Annual renewal — mark the expiry date, not the issue date
- Gas Safe registered engineer only — check their registration number
- Copy provided to tenant within 28 days, or before move-in for a new tenancy
- Not required if the property has no gas supply at all
Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR)
Required every five years for every rental property, regardless of gas supply. It must be carried out by a qualified and competent electrician, and if the report identifies anything unsatisfactory (a "C1" or "C2" classification), remedial work must be completed within 28 days — or sooner if the report specifies an earlier deadline.
- Renewal every 5 years, or at each change of tenancy if sooner
- Unsatisfactory findings must be remedied within 28 days
- Copy provided to tenants and, if requested, to the local authority
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
Every rental property needs a valid EPC, and the certificate lasts ten years. The current minimum standard is an E rating, but this is changing: from 1 October 2030, the minimum standard rises to a C rating for private rented properties in England and Wales.
What's changing before 2030: the EPC assessment methodology itself is being overhauled, based on how well a property retains heat rather than simply how much energy it uses. The new methodology becomes compulsory for EPCs from 1 October 2029, but a valid EPC C obtained before that date under the current methodology will still count as compliant until it expires.
The government has proposed a cap of £10,000 per property on the cost of improvements required to reach a C rating, with a 10-year exemption available for landlords who've spent up to that cap and still haven't reached C. Penalties for non-compliance once the new standard applies are proposed at up to £30,000 per property — so this is worth planning for well before the deadline rather than at the last minute, particularly for older or harder-to-insulate properties.
Legionella risk assessment
Landlords have a legal duty to assess the risk of legionella in a property's water system under the Health and Safety Executive's L8 code of practice. Unlike gas safety, this doesn't require a paid specialist for a typical domestic property — a landlord can carry out and document a simple, competent self-assessment. It's low-profile and rarely enforced directly, but it is a genuine legal obligation, not an optional extra.
Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
A working smoke alarm is required on every storey of a rental property that's used as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm is required in any room with a solid fuel appliance — and, in England, wherever there's a fixed combustion appliance more broadly, gas included. Alarms must be tested at the start of each new tenancy.
The ones worth doing even though they're not legally required
Annual boiler servicing and PAT testing of portable appliances aren't legal requirements for a standard residential let, but both are sensible good practice — a serviced boiler is less likely to fail mid-winter, and PAT testing catches faulty appliances before they cause harm, especially in furnished lets.
Keeping track of all of it
The genuine difficulty with compliance isn't understanding any single requirement — it's remembering all of them, for every property, on their own separate renewal cycles, without a system that surfaces what's due before it lapses. That's the entire reason compliance tracking exists as a feature in Slatebase: certificates are tracked automatically against what each property actually has (no gas certificate chased for an all-electric flat), with reminders before anything expires and a single place to store every document.
This article is for general information and does not constitute legal advice. Compliance requirements can vary by property type and local authority area, and change over time — always verify current requirements before relying on this guide.