Why renters are most at risk from unsafe gas appliances

Some new data released by the Gas Safe Register has revealed that it is private renters who are most at risk from having unsafe gas appliances in their homes. The Gas Safe Register replaced CORGI in 2009 and are the official list of engineers who are legally able to work on gas appliances such as boilers, cookers and fires. Their data, which has been collected over the last 5 years shows that as many as 2.7 private renters are at risk of unsafe gas appliances. The data reveals some of the following worrying statistics: 21% of privately rented accommodation were found to have unsafe gas appliances. 59% of those unsafe appliances are gas heaters. 19% of renters weren’t aware their boiler should be checked annually. 11% didn’t think their boiler had been serviced in the last year. 37% of landlords didn’t realise they needed to have the boiler serviced annually. 15% of landlords thought the safety of gas appliances is the responsibility of the council. 49% of homeowners weren’t sure whose responsibility gas safety is. 14% of homeowners thought gas safety was the responsibility of the gas provider. This shows that there is a significant lack of knowledge in the rental sector. The fact that many landlords, who are relied upon by tenants to maintain their homes correctly, are not aware of their gas safety responsibilities is cause for concern. At a time of year when central heating is switched on for particularly long amounts of time, it’s important that gas appliances are working correctly and not leaking carbon monoxide or functioning incorrectly in other ways. It’s important that more is done to educate the public, and in particular landlords, about the importance of gas safety and the consequences of not having gas appliances checked on an annual basis. Anyone having work done on their boiler should also not be afraid of asking the visiting engineer for their Gas Safe Register Identification to show that they really are qualified to be working on the task at hand. Article by Benjamin Clarke RELATED ARTICLES • The quest to stop illegal gas fitters with the Gas Safe Register 15th Jan 2015  • Why there's still work to do on educating the public about plumbing & heating 19th Oct 2016  • The importance of annual heating system maintenance 7th Jul 2015   

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