Gas safety | Progress Housing Group

We check the gas appliance in your property every 12 months to keep you and your family safe

By law, we must carry out an annual gas safety check on every gas appliance we have provided in your home, even if you do not use it.

These free checks safeguard you and your family against potentially life-threatening emergencies such as a carbon monoxide leak or an explosion from a faulty appliance.

Your gas safety check can also help you save money by making sure your gas appliances are working efficiently and using less energy.

The law says we must do gas safety inspections
We will contact you to make an appointment when your gas safety check is due
You must give us access to your property, or we may have to take further action.

If you smell gas, call the National Gas Emergency Service immediately at 0800 111 999. If you use British Sign Language (BSL), you can use SignLive to contact the National Gas Emergency Service free of charge.

Check the date of your next gas check

About your gas safety check

The importance of gas safety checks

The law says that we must inspect any gas appliance in your home every 12 months to keep you, your family, and your neighbours safe.

It is also a condition of your tenancy agreement that you allow us access to your home to check that your gas appliances are working safely.

Your gas safety check appointment

If your gas safety certificate is more than 10 months old, we will contact you to arrange a gas safety check at your home with one of our Gas Safe registered engineers.

We will send you an appointment letter five working days before the appointment date.

We will also issue a text message the day before your appointment, so please ensure we always have your up-to-date contact details.

You can also check when your gas safety check is due by logging into your online tenant account.

During your safety check, we will service and repair all of our gas appliances and visually inspect any appliances you own, such as your cooker. This will help you to arrange any necessary repairs for appliances you own.

We are still required by law to check your home every 12 months, even if the last safety check showed no gas appliances or a gas supply.

Whilst at your home, we will also test your hard-wired smoke detector and carbon monoxide (CO) alarm - we will fit one if you do not have one. You are responsible for regularly checking that they are still working; we suggest you test them weekly. If an alarm or detector stops working, please get in touch with us.

Rearranging your gas check

If the date or time we arranged is inconvenient for your check, please call us on 0333 320 4555 as soon as possible.

Your gas safety check will take about an hour, and we usually offer appointments between 8am and 3.30pm, Monday to Friday.

If you cannot give us access to your property during these times or if you have specific needs, please get in touch with us as soon as possible so we can arrange a more convenient appointment.

Access to your home for your gas check

Failure to allow us access to your home to complete the gas safety check is dangerous for you, your family, and your neighbours.

Your tenancy agreement says you must let us into your home for these checks.

If you have refused us entry into your home by the third arranged appointment, we’ll apply to the court for an injunction so we can enter your home to inspect any gas appliances and keep you safe.

We always aim to avoid legal action unless absolutely necessary, but we will not hesitate to take action when our tenants’ and their neighbours’ health and safety is at risk.

Legal action can result in costs of up to £1,500, and we will look to recover these costs directly from you.

Making sure a gas engineer is from Progress Housing Group

Our gas engineers are all Gas Safe registered, which means they can do gas work legally. They all wear a Progress Housing Group uniform and carry Progress Housing Group identification. If you’re concerned that a gas engineer isn’t who they say they are, please get in touch on 0333 320 4555 or by live chat.

Gas safety checks - our commitment to you

We will:

Employ fully qualified Gas Safe registered engineers who will show you their identification card when they visit your home
Protect the area around the appliance we are working on using dust sheets, etc.
Service all the gas appliances we own (for example, central-heating boilers and gas fires) to the manufacturer’s recommendations and legal requirements.

Gas safety checks - your responsibilities

We need you to:

Contact us to rearrange your gas safety check as soon as possible if you cannot make the scheduled appointment
Allow our Gas Safe registered engineers into your home to carry out the gas safety check on any appliances and flues we have provided. This is for your safety, and if you do not co-operate, we will take legal action
Ensure that you have credit available if you have a pre-payment meter, so there is sufficient gas and electricity to carry out the safety check
Ensure that the engineer has unobstructed access to the gas meter and all gas appliances
Arrange for any gas appliances, such as cookers and fires that you own and that we have not supplied to be installed and checked annually by a Gas Safe registered engineer. You can find a Gas Safe engineer at www.gassaferegister.co.uk

Keeping safe

If you smell gas

If you smell gas inside your home, you should do the following:

Immediately turn off the gas at the meter
Do not turn any electrical switches on or off. They can cause a spark which in turn could cause an explosion if there is a gas leak
Do not use your phone indoors, as it could cause a spark
Do not smoke or use a naked flame
Open all doors and windows
Check to see if you have left any gas appliance on or if a pilot light has gone out
Go outside the property and call the National Gas Emergency Service’s 24-hour helpline on 0800 111 999.

Make sure that someone is available when the emergency gas service engineer arrives to let them into your home.

When you report a gas leak to the National Gas Emergency Service, you will need to inform us as soon as they have visited and made it safe by telephoning us at 0333 320 4555. We will then attend to any repairs required within 24 hours of your call.

Carbon monoxide poisoning

Carbon monoxide is a dangerous gas that can cause serious illness or even kill without warning, as you cannot see, smell or taste it. You are most at risk when you are asleep or you might not realise what is happening until it is too late.

Carbon monoxide poisoning due to faulty gas appliances kills over 60 people in the UK each year. These deaths could have been avoided if all gas appliances had been checked and serviced every 12 months.

Common symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning includes tiredness, headaches, stomach pains, chest pains, nausea, vomiting, erratic behaviour, drowsiness and breathlessness.

If you are worried about the safety of any gas equipment, you should turn it off and leave it off until you have had it checked by a registered gas engineer.

Carbon monoxide
You cannot see it.
You cannot smell it.
You cannot taste it.
But it can kill in 20 minutes.

Using appliances safely

There are steps that you can take to keep everyone in your home and neighbourhood safe.

Make sure:

Any gas appliances are properly installed by a Gas Safe registered engineer and are checked for safety or maintained within the last 12 months
There is enough fresh air in the room
That your chimney or flue is not restricted or blocked
You test your smoke detector and carbon monoxide (CO) alarm regularly - contact us immediately if they stop working
Your gas appliances are working correctly. Danger signs include:
- Yellow or brown staining/soot deposits on or around appliances
- Pilot lights that often blow out
- Increased condensation inside windows
- Yellow flame rather than blue.

If you are worried about the safety of any gas appliance, you should turn it off and leave it off until you have had it checked by a registered gas engineer. You can find or check a Gas Safe engineer at www.gassaferegister.co.uk

carrying work out on appliances

Working with gas can be dangerous, so it is important that you never try to fix, fit or move appliances like your boiler or cooker yourself. Badly fitted or poorly maintained gas appliances can cause gas leaks, fires, explosions and carbon monoxide poisoning; it just isn’t worth the risk.

By law, anyone carrying out work on gas appliances and fittings as part of their business must be competent and registered with Gas Safe. That’s why you should only ever use a Gas Safe registered engineer to carry out gas work in your home.

All our gas engineers are registered with Gas Safe.

When your engineer visits, you should ask to see their Gas Safe ID card which confirms they’re appropriately qualified to safely carry out the work in question.

To help you and your family stay safe while you’re making improvements to your home, here are Gas Safe’s top tips:

Don’t DIY with gas appliances, always use a Gas Safe registered engineer

Don’t block or cover air vents and flues - they are essential for safely working gas appliances

Never try to remove or repair a gas appliance yourself

If you’re having building work done, always ensure your contractor is qualified

Check where your gas pipes are located - make sure you don’t accidentally hit them during DIY work

It is illegal for someone who is not Gas Safe registered to fit a gas appliance or do other gas work and then have the work checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer. Both parties would be breaking the law.