Gas services

It is our duty as a landlord to ensure that every property has a gas safety inspection carried out once a year, this is both for the safety of our customers and a legal requirement. It is very important that we gain access to your property for this to be done, to protect you, your family and your neighbours from appliances that may not be operating safely.

Gas servicing

Gas servicing is part of your tenancy agreement, so it is important that when it is time for your gas service or safety check that you allow our engineers into your home to do this.

You will usually be sent a letter 2 weeks before your gas service is due. It's important to check the date and time of your appointment when this arrives. If this is inconvenient you should contact Homes and Neighbourhoods to rearrange your appointment as soon as possible.

  • Typically, appointments are available Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm
  • You can request either a morning appointment (8am - 12pm) or an afternoon appointment (12pm - 4pm).
  • We can make appointments around the school run (9:30am - 2:30pm).
  • If these appointment times do not work for you, we will try to accommodate your needs where possible.

What we do on a gas service

Gas servicing is usually carried out by our own team of Gas Engineers, who are all Gas Safe Registered, they all carry their own Gas Safe card and company ID card which you can ask to see if required. A typical gas service takes around 30-75 minutes, dependent on the type, condition and number of gas appliances that are in your home.

On a typical gas service, we will:

  • Carry out a service on the gas appliances that we own, this will usually be the boiler and gas fire.
  • On appliances not owned by us such as your cooker, we will carry out a visual inspection only and not a service.
  • Carry out a visual inspection of the gas pipework in your home.
  • Do a gas test at the gas meter to ensure that there are no leaks in your home.
  • Inspect the flue/chimney in every room/space that it runs through including your loft space.
  • Ensure that smoke alarms are fitted and are in working order.

All the appliances that have been looked at will be listed on the gas safety certificate, this includes those owned by you. On finishing, the engineer will explain what work has been done and ask you to sign the certificate, you will then either be left a copy or one will be sent out to you within 6 weeks of us carrying out the service.

If a fault is found, we will try to rectify this straightaway. If we can't because a part is required, we will make another appointment to repair this.

Where we find something that is unsafe, we will isolate the appliance or installation and stick a warning label on the appliance until it can be rectified, sometimes to do this we might need to order a part. This may take a few days to arrive, if this results in you having no heating, our gas engineer will arrange for some temporary heaters to be dropped off at your home. Once the appliance has been fixed you can simply hand them back to the gas engineer that fixed the appliance.

If we find a fault with an appliance owned by you, then we will make this safe and advise you on the repairs needed. You will then need to arrange and pay for your own Gas Safe Registered engineer to carry out the repair.

How you can help us

You can help us by ensuring that we have access to your home at the agreed time and sticking to the appointment times agreed with you. It would also be helpful if you let us know as soon as possible if you can no longer make an appointment, so that we can rearrange it before the gas engineer arrives.

Where our engineer visits your property and is unable to gain access, they will leave a blue card that will either list details of a new appointment or ask you to contact Homes and Neighbourhoods. It is important that you get in touch with us or allow us access at the new appointment time to carry out your gas service.

If we still don't hear from you, we will continue to call at your home to attempt to gain access, if after the third visit we still haven't got access, we will apply for a court warrant that will allow us access to enter your home, once this is done you will be informed and given another opportunity to arrange a gas service appointment.

If we are still unable to gain access, we will execute the warrant which will result in us changing the locks. This means that you may be charged for this.

If you have an external meter, your gas meter may also be capped for safety until we can carry out the gas service.

Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide is an odourless, colourless, tasteless, poisonous gas that can come from faulty appliances that burn fuels such as gas, coal, oil, LPG and even wood, it can also come from the petrol/diesel engines.

You can become unwell if you breathe it in or in extreme circumstances when exposed to high levels, it can lead to death. In England & Wales there are usually around 60 deaths annually caused by accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. Things that you can do to protect yourself from carbon monoxide are:

  • Ensuring that you have your annual gas service done on time every year
  • Ensuring that you keep your home well ventilated

Gas smell

If you can smell gas, suspect that you have a gas leak or carbon monoxide leak you should call the free National Gas Emergency Services Line straight away on 0800 111 999. This service is open 24 hours a day

Boiler or heating breakdown

If your heating isn't working properly, there are a few things that you can check yourself before contacting us.

  • Check if you have credit on your prepayment meter and check that it is turned on. You can check to see if your other gas appliances such as a gas cooker are working, if they aren't, remember to turn it off after checking, before re-establishing the gas supply. If they are working, you should try resetting the boiler.
  • You should also check to see if the fused spur is switched on for the boiler and that the display on the boiler lights up.
  • You can also check to see if your programmer or time clock is calling for heat or hot water by checking that it is in the 'on' or 'constant' position. This is usually shown by a red or green light.
  • If your heating is not working, you should check to see if the room thermostat is calling for heat, you can do this by turning the temperature up high (above 21 degrees).
  • If your heating still doesn't work after checking the above, then contact Homes and Neighbourhoods, using one of the methods below. When contacting us remember to give as many details as possible such as any fault codes displayed.

Contact Homes and Neighbourhoods

Contact Homes and Neighbourhoods.

When contacting us please give us the following information:

  • Your address
  • Reason for visit
  • The date you would like us to attend (please give at least two working days' notice for texts, emails and answerphone and five working days' notice for post).
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