Gas Safety Certificate renewal: what property managers need to track

Of every certificate a rented property needs, the gas safety record — usually called a CP12 — has the shortest cycle: every 12 months, for any property with gas appliances, fittings or flues provided by the landlord. That short cycle is why gas safety is the certificate most portfolios let lapse first: it comes around fast, for every property, every year.

The core requirement

The annual check must be carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer, covering each landlord-provided gas appliance and flue. The engineer issues the gas safety record; the landlord (or agent) must keep each record for at least two years — the HSE's landlord guidance is the authoritative source for the full duties. Appliances the tenant owns aren't covered by the check itself — though flues serving them can be — and installation pipework is checked for soundness as part of a proper visit.

The dates you must be able to evidence

• Check date and expiry — the next check is due within 12 months of the last one.
• Copy to existing tenants — within 28 days of the check.
• Copy to new tenants — before they move in, not after.
• Record retention — at least two years.

The two-month rule that protects your renewal date

Since 2018, a check carried out in the two months before the current record expires can be treated as if done on the expiry date — preserving the original renewal anniversary. Without using this window, booking early pulls the renewal date earlier every year, and booking late means a gap in cover. The practical pattern for a portfolio is to schedule engineers into that two-month window deliberately, which needs a reminder that fires ahead of expiry, not on it.

Access problems don't pause the duty

Tenants sometimes refuse or repeatedly miss access for the annual check. The duty on the landlord is to take all reasonable steps — which in practice means recording every attempt: letters, visits, and rebookings. If a lapse is ever challenged, that evidence trail is what demonstrates the landlord acted properly. A system that keeps notes and correspondence against the property makes that trail automatic rather than reconstructed after the fact.

Why annual certificates break spreadsheets

A 50-property portfolio has a gas check due roughly every week of the year. Tracking that in a spreadsheet means someone opening it weekly, forever, without fail — the exact single point of failure described in our guide to replacing certificate spreadsheets. Verixad reads each uploaded CP12, tracks its expiry per property, and escalates reminders as the date approaches — see how the reminders work.