Renting out a home · England

Landlord certificates in England: gas, electrical safety, EPC, alarms and the deposit

A landlord in England needs a gas safety check every 12 months, an electrical inspection at least every 5 years, a valid EPC rated E or above, working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and the deposit protected within 30 days. Tenants get copies of the gas and electrical reports, and every adult tenant needs a Right to Rent check.

Last updated 17 Oct 2026 · Joel Lister, founder of Radar

Who this is for: private landlords letting a home in England, and anyone managing a let for a landlord. (GOV.UK)

Who it is not for: landlords in Scotland or Northern Ireland, where GOV.UK says the rules are different (GOV.UK), or in Wales, which this guide does not cover. Houses in multiple occupation have extra duties, such as fire alarms and extinguishers in a large one (GOV.UK).

WhatThe rule in EnglandSource
Gas safety checkEvery 12 months, on each gas appliance and flue you provide, by a Gas Safe registered engineer. It can be done up to 2 months early and keep the original date.HSE, GOV.UK
Gas safety recordA copy to existing tenants within 28 days of the check, and to new tenants before they move in. Kept for at least 2 years.HSE, HSE
Electrical inspection (EICR)The electrical installation inspected and tested by a qualified person at least every 5 years.GOV.UK
Electrical reportTo existing tenants within 28 days of the inspection, to new tenants before they move in, to a prospective tenant within 28 days of asking, and to the council within 7 days of asking.GOV.UK
EPCValid for 10 years. Ordered before you market the home to rent, and shown to tenants. Rated E or above to let it, unless an exemption is registered.GOV.UK, GOV.UK
Smoke alarmsAt least one on each storey with a room used as living accommodation, working on the day the tenancy begins.GOV.UK
Carbon monoxide alarmsIn any room used as living accommodation with a fixed combustion appliance, gas cookers excluded.GOV.UK
DepositProtected in a government-approved scheme within 30 days of receiving it, with the required information to the tenant in the same 30 days.GOV.UK, GOV.UK
Right to RentEvery tenant aged 18 and over checked before a new tenancy starts. Copies kept for the tenancy and one year after.GOV.UK, GOV.UK

The rules are GOV.UK’s and the Health and Safety Executive’s, read on 17 October 2026. They are for England unless a line says otherwise.

The gas safety certificate

What landlords call a gas safety certificate is the record of the yearly gas safety check. You must have a Gas Safe registered engineer check each gas appliance and flue you provide every 12 months (GOV.UK). A check done up to 2 months before it is due keeps the original deadline, so the date does not creep earlier each year (HSE).

  • Copies: to each existing tenant within 28 days of the check, and to any new tenant before they move in (HSE).
  • Keeping it: for at least 2 years. If you have used the 2-month early window, keep each record until two further checks have been done (HSE).
  • What it shows: each appliance or flue checked and where it is, the engineer’s name, registration number and signature, the date, the address, your name and address, and any defect and what was done about it. It can be kept electronically if it can be printed and is kept secure (HSE).

More on servicing and the gas check is in Boiler service: how often, and the gas safety check.

The landlord electrical safety certificate (EICR)

The electrical installation in a rented home must be inspected and tested by a qualified person at least every 5 years. The report is usually an Electrical Installation Condition Report, or EICR (GOV.UK).

  • Existing tenants: a copy within 28 days of the inspection and test (GOV.UK).
  • New tenants: a copy before they occupy the home (GOV.UK).
  • Prospective tenants: a copy within 28 days of their asking for it (GOV.UK).
  • The council: a copy within 7 days of its asking for it (GOV.UK).
  • Keeping it: until the next inspection and test is due (GOV.UK).
  • Work the report says is needed: done within 28 days, or sooner if the report says so (GOV.UK).

A council may impose a financial penalty of up to £40,000 on a landlord in breach of these duties (GOV.UK). The same rules came into force for social landlords on 1 November 2025: they apply to social housing tenancies granted after 1 December 2025, and to those granted before it from 1 May 2026 (GOV.UK).

The EPC and the minimum rating

An Energy Performance Certificate is valid for 10 years. You must order one before you market the home to rent, and the landlord or letting agent must show it to tenants. You can be fined if you do not get one when you need one (GOV.UK).

Since 1 April 2020 a home let on an assured, regulated or domestic agricultural tenancy that needs an EPC cannot be let, or go on being let, if it is rated F or G, unless a valid exemption applies. This minimum standard covers England and Wales (GOV.UK).

  • Cost cap: you are not currently required to spend more than £3,500, including VAT, on improvements (GOV.UK).
  • Exemptions are registered and mostly last 5 years; someone who has recently become a landlord has 6 months (GOV.UK).
  • Penalties are up to £2,000 for letting a home that does not meet the standard for under 3 months and up to £4,000 for 3 months or longer, with a cap of £5,000 per property for each breach (GOV.UK).
  • Band C by 2030 is the government’s aim, not the law: GOV.UK says no details have been set (GOV.UK).

Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms

Since 1 October 2022, landlords in England, private and social, must make sure that (GOV.UK):

  • there is at least one smoke alarm on each storey of the home where a room is used as living accommodation;
  • there is a carbon monoxide alarm in any room used as living accommodation that has a fixed combustion appliance, gas cookers excluded;
  • each alarm is working on the day a new tenancy begins;
  • an alarm is repaired or replaced once they are told it is faulty and find that it is.

A council can serve a remedial notice, and failing to keep to one can bring a fine of up to £5,000 (GOV.UK). The booklet suggests showing tenants how to test the alarms; how to do it is in How to test a smoke alarm.

Protecting the deposit

A deposit must go into a government-approved tenancy deposit protection scheme within 30 days of your getting it. In England and Wales the schemes are the Deposit Protection Service, MyDeposits and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme; Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate schemes (GOV.UK). Since 1 May 2026, when assured periodic tenancies replaced assured shorthold tenancies, the rule covers tenants on an assured periodic tenancy (GOV.UK).

Within the same 30 days the tenant must be told the address of the home, how much deposit they paid, how it is protected, the scheme’s name and contact details and its dispute service, your or your agent’s name and contact details, the name and contact details of anyone else who paid the deposit, why you might keep some or all of it, how to apply to get it back, what to do if they cannot reach you at the end of the tenancy, and what to do if there is a dispute (GOV.UK).

At the end, the deposit must be returned within 10 days of you both agreeing the amount (GOV.UK). A court will only make a possession order if the deposit was protected with the required information, or has been returned, or the tenant’s challenge has been settled (GOV.UK).

The How to Rent guide and the Renters’ Rights Act

The Renters’ Rights Act’s first changes came into effect on 1 May 2026 in England: tenancies are now assured periodic tenancies, run on a rolling basis with no end date, and a landlord can no longer evict through section 21 (GOV.UK).

  • The Information Sheet: a landlord with a written tenancy agreement had to give tenants the Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet by 31 May 2026. Where a tenancy is entirely verbal, the landlord had to give written information about its key terms by the same date (GOV.UK).
  • How to Rent: the guide was withdrawn on 1 May 2026 because of the Act. GOV.UK keeps it only for tenancies where a section 21 notice was served before 1 May 2026 (GOV.UK).

Right to Rent checks

Before a new tenancy starts you must check that every tenant aged 18 and over can legally rent in England. If someone’s permission to stay is time-limited, do the check in the 28 days before the tenancy begins (GOV.UK).

  • Follow-up check: just before the later of the end of their permission to stay and 12 months after the previous check. None is needed if their permission has no time limit (GOV.UK).
  • If they fail it: tell the Home Office. Not reporting it can lead to a fine or up to 5 years in prison (GOV.UK).
  • Copies: keep them for as long as they are your tenants and for one year after (GOV.UK).

Landlord registration in England

England has no landlord register you can join today. The government announced a national service, “Register your rental property”, on 9 September 2026. It opens on 15 December 2026 in the West Midlands and moves on to other regions over 12 months, and every landlord actively letting property will need to have registered by 14 November 2027. Registering will be a legal requirement, and not doing it risks a fine (GOV.UK).

If you are moving into a let yourself, the moving house checklist has the rest of the jobs.

What Radar does with this

  • Life setup asks: “When is the boiler next due a service?” An annual service keeps many boiler warranties valid, and engineers book up before winter. Radar reminds you 21 days ahead.
  • Life setup asks: “When should Radar next remind you to test the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms?” Pressing the test button once a month is the usual advice.
  • For a home you let, put each certificate on your Radar as an item that repeats: the gas safety check every year, the electrical inspection every 5 years and the EPC every 10 years. Marked done, each moves on by its own interval. A tenant’s Right to Rent follow-up check, or your region’s registration deadline, goes on as a dated item of its own.

Radar reads the calendars, task lists and CRM you connect, and the dates you give it. It writes back only when you press a button, and it never sends anything by itself.

Limitations and status

  • Radar reminds you when a check or certificate is due; it does not book an engineer, an electrician or an energy assessor, protect a deposit or check documents.
  • This guide covers England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have rules of their own that it does not describe.
  • The rules are as GOV.UK and HSE gave them on 17 October 2026. The Renters’ Rights Act is being brought in in stages, so check GOV.UK for anything that has changed since.
Put the year’s home dates in your calendar — free, no accountLook at a sample radar — no login

Also free: Radar Lite, the habit tracker on its own, for you and anyone 13 or over in the family.

Questions

What certificates does a landlord need in England?

A gas safety record from a check every 12 months, an electrical installation report from an inspection at least every 5 years, and a valid EPC rated E or above. Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms must also be in place and working, and the deposit protected. (HSE, GOV.UK, GOV.UK, GOV.UK)

How often does a landlord need an electrical safety certificate?

At least every 5 years. Existing tenants get the report within 28 days of the inspection, new tenants before they move in, and the council within 7 days of asking. (GOV.UK)

How long does a landlord have to protect a deposit?

30 days from getting it, in a government-approved scheme. The tenant must be told how it is protected, and the rest of the required information, in the same 30 days. (GOV.UK, GOV.UK)

Do landlords have to register in England?

Not yet. The “Register your rental property” service opens on 15 December 2026 in the West Midlands, region by region over 12 months, and every landlord actively letting must be registered by 14 November 2027. (GOV.UK)

Do I still have to give tenants the How to Rent guide?

GOV.UK withdrew it on 1 May 2026 because of the Renters’ Rights Act, keeping it only for tenancies where a section 21 notice was served before then. Landlords with a written tenancy had to give the Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet by 31 May 2026. (GOV.UK, GOV.UK)

More guides

Every free tool and guide →

Sources

Written by Joel Lister, founder of Radar · first published 17 Oct 2026. Radar is made by Neos Technologies Ltd.