HSE: Landlords must check gas appliances or face fine » Housing » 24dash.com

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning rented property owners to ensure they adequately check and maintain gas appliances or face the risk of prosecution.

The call follows the successful prosecution of a St Ives landlady who has been fined £10,000.

Sajida Kausar Ali, of St Ives, was also ordered to pay £4,000 in costs yesterday at Huntingdon Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to breaching Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

On 28 August 2007 Mrs Ali, who is the landlady of a rented property on Sallowbush Road, Huntingdon, failed to comply with an Improvement Notice served on her requiring gas safety checks to be carried out.

She was also charged with failure to maintain gas appliances and remove gas appliances from rooms used for sleeping.

Prior to this, checks were made at the home to ensure the tenants were not actually at risk. It was discovered that of ten defects found three were "immediately dangerous" and three were "at risk".

These included two gas leaks and a very poorly maintained open-flued gas fire situated in a room used as sleeping accommodation - which for a lengthy period was used by a young married couple with a new baby.

HSE inspector Stephen Manley said: "There are many myths about health and safety - carbon monoxide is not one of them. People needlessly die each year due to a lack of effective maintenance of gas appliances. Everybody should think about having annual checks especially those responsible for letting a property.

Landlords must ensure gas appliances are maintained and annually tested to ensure that they are in a safe condition and working effectively.

"Mrs Ali had failed, despite requests by Huntingdonshire District Council housing officers and then the HSE, to arrange for the inspection of all the appliances in the home. There is a strict legal duty upon landlords, and the specific failure to comply with the Improvement Notice was a major aggravating factor in this case.

"I urge all landlords to ensure they identify and implement their duties under both the Housing Act and the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations - both to reduce risk to tenants and to avoid court action such as this"