How to check a gas engineer is Gas Safe registered

Ask a gas engineer for their Gas Safe number when you book, and check it on the Gas Safe Register before they start. Each gas appliance and flue you’re responsible for must be checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer. The app sends gas and boiler repairs only to a trade with a Gas Safe number.

First: is anyone in danger?

A smell of gas, or a carbon monoxide alarm sounding, comes before any check of the engineer. Your tenant’s page gives them the emergency numbers and what to do first. Gas smell, carbon monoxide or a power cut: what to do first shows those words, and what you do next.

Why it matters

Each gas appliance and flue you are responsible for must be checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer. That doesn’t include an appliance your tenant is entitled to remove.

A check or a repair by someone who isn’t registered is one you can’t rely on. So the app treats a Gas Safe number as the condition for sending any gas or boiler repair.

Ask for the number before they come

When you book, ask for the Gas Safe number, and the name of the engineer who will come, if it’s a firm. Then check both on the Gas Safe Register before the day, not on the doorstep.

If the register doesn’t show the number, or shows a different name, ask the firm about it before you confirm the booking.

Are they registered for this kind of work?

When the app sends a gas job, the trade’s page tells them to take it only if the engineer who goes is Gas Safe registered for it. So it helps to ask, when you book, whether the engineer is registered for the appliance you need, such as a boiler, a gas fire or a cooker.

Check the card on the day

On the day, it helps to ask to see the engineer’s Gas Safe ID card. Check that its name and number match the ones you looked up. If you won’t be there, ask your tenant to do the same, and to ring you if anything doesn’t match.

When a trade marks a gas job finished on their page, they’re asked for the engineer’s Gas Safe ID, from their card, if they wish to give it. It then shows on the repair, as what the trade says.

What the card shows, and the register’s other ways to check, haven’t been checked for this guide: see the Gas Safe Register’s own site.

If the details don’t check out

Don’t let the work go ahead. Book a Gas Safe registered engineer you have checked instead, and tell your tenant in writing that the visit is off, and why.

If your usual engineer can’t come, see finding a good trade when your usual one can’t come.

Keep the number with the trade

Once you’ve checked an engineer, keep their Gas Safe number with their other details, so the next booking starts from a checked name. It’s worth checking the number again before each booking.

What the law says

In England, each gas appliance and flue you are responsible for must be checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer. The first check is within 12 months of installation, then at intervals of no more than 12 months. The record of each check is kept until two further checks have been made.

A copy of the record goes to each existing tenant within 28 days of the check, and to a new tenant before they move in.

You must also keep the installations for gas in repair and proper working order. That doesn’t cover things your tenant is entitled to remove.

For a particular tenancy, and anything this guide leaves open, take advice from a solicitor or Citizens Advice.