A landlord from Slough has been fined £9,000 with additional costs of £3,491 after failing to arrange CP12s in his rental property for almost four years.
In a hearing at Slough Magistrates Court on August 21st, Mohammed Nawaz admitted to two breaches of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations and a failure to comply with a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Improvement Notice.
Mr Nawaz, a 25-year-old from Bath Road, was legally obliged to ensure that the gas appliances in his tenanted properties were checked and maintained properly. These checks should have occurred at least once every 12 months, and the occupants should have received a Landlords Gas Safety Record for their home.
However, an investigation by the HSE found that these checks were not performed between June 2010 and February 2014, and that the tenants never received a gas safety record during their four years’ residence in the property.
An engineer eventually visited the household and found that the gas boiler’s supply pipes were the wrong size and that the flue’s seal was inadequate. Accordingly, they classified the boiler as ‘At Risk’.
The HSE sent Mr Nawaz an enforcement notice and issued warnings to him, and the local authority sent him an abatement notice. The landlord did not respond to these notices, so the family within the property were continually exposed to unnecessary hazards.
Following the hearing, Karen Morris, HSE Inspector, said that the residents of the household – which included two children – were put “at risk of serious harm” as a result of Mr Nawaz’s failures.
Describing gas safety checks as “simple and inexpensive”, he argued there is “no excuse” for landlords to fail to ensure that the gas appliances in their rented properties are checked annually and maintained properly.
Such checks are “vital” for tenants’ safety, he added.
The breaches of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 that Mr Nawaz admitted to are:
- Section 36 (2), which obliges landlords to ensure that flues and gas fittings are maintained and kept in a safe condition, and
- Regulation 36 (3), which requires landlords to arrange annual gas safety checks for all gas fittings and relevant flues
Furthermore, he also breached section 33 (1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, which states that it is an offence for people to contravene the requirements imposed by prohibition and enforcement notices.
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