CP12 landlord gas safety records

What a CP12 actually is

"CP12" is the trade's shorthand for the Landlord Gas Safety Record (LGSR) — the record a landlord must obtain after the annual safety check of gas appliances and flues in a rented property. The name is a hangover from the CORGI era ("CORGI Proforma 12"), and although CORGI was replaced by the Gas Safe Register in 2009, the nickname stuck.

The legal footing is Regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. It requires landlords to have every gas appliance and flue they provide for tenants checked for safety at intervals of no more than 12 months by a Gas Safe registered engineer, to keep a record of each check, and to give tenants a copy. There is no prescribed government form — any format is acceptable provided it contains the required information, which is why records from different engineers look different.

Who needs one

Broadly, anyone letting residential accommodation under a lease or licence shorter than seven years, where gas appliances or flues are provided:

• Private landlords and letting agents managing on their behalf (the duty can be transferred to an agent by contract, but only if the agreement says so clearly).
• Landlords of HMOs, bedsits and flat-shares.
• Housing associations and local authorities.
• Hostels, B&Bs and similar accommodation let for rent.

Points that are commonly misunderstood:

• Appliances owned by the tenant (say, a cooker the tenant brought with them) are not the landlord's to check — but any flue or chimney serving a tenant's appliance generally is, if the landlord provided it.
• Installation pipework is not strictly part of the annual Regulation 36 check, but landlords have a separate duty to maintain it, and HSE recommends asking the engineer to inspect it at the same visit.
• A property with no gas supply needs no LGSR — but a capped supply with appliances still present usually still needs attention; take advice for the specific setup.

What the record must contain

Regulation 36(3A) sets out the minimum content. A valid Landlord Gas Safety Record must include:

• The date the appliance or flue was checked.
• The address of the premises.
• The name and address of the landlord (or agent, where appropriate).
• A description and location of each appliance and flue checked.
• Any defect identified and any remedial action taken.
• Confirmation that the check covered the required matters — operating pressure or heat input, operation of safety devices, adequate ventilation, flue performance and safe removal of combustion products, and the physical condition and stability of the appliance and pipework.
• The name, signature and Gas Safe registration number of the engineer who carried out the check.

If any of that is missing, the record may not stand up as evidence that the duty was met — worth checking before you file it, not after a dispute.

The 12-month cycle and the MOT-style renewal window

Each appliance and flue must be checked at intervals of no more than 12 months. Before 2018 this created "deadline creep": landlords who renewed early lost the balance of the year, so many left it dangerously late instead.

The 2018 amendment to the regulations fixed this with an MOT-style window. If the new check is carried out 10 to 12 months after the previous one, it is treated as if done on the deadline date — so the expiry anniversary is preserved and no time is lost by renewing early. Two caveats:

• Renew more than two months early (before the 10-month point) and the clock resets to 12 months from the new check date.
• Renew late and there is no grace period — the property has simply been let without a valid check, which is a breach, and the new record runs 12 months from the actual check date.

The record should show the deadline date being relied on where the preservation rule is used, so keep the previous record to evidence the chain.

Engineer obligations

Only an engineer on the Gas Safe Register may legally carry out the check — and registration is per category of work, so the engineer's licence card must cover the appliance types involved (for example, cookers and boilers are separate competencies). Landlords are expected to take reasonable steps to verify this: check the card or look the engineer up on the register. For the engineer's part, the check must cover the safety matters listed above for each appliance and flue, unsafe situations should be handled under the industry's Gas Industry Unsafe Situations Procedure (danger notices, and disconnection with permission where warranted), and the completed record must be accurate and signed. An engineer who signs off work they did not properly perform risks their registration and prosecution.

Record keeping and giving copies to tenants

• Existing tenants must receive a copy of the new record within 28 days of the check.
• New tenants must be given a copy before they move in. In England, prescribed-requirement rules for the private rented sector have also tied the gas safety record to a landlord's ability to regain possession — the penalty regime has been changing with recent renting reforms, so check the current position rather than relying on older guidance.
• Short lets (under 28 days) can be covered by displaying a copy prominently in the premises.
• The landlord must keep each record for at least two years from the date of the check — and where the MOT-style window is used, keeping the older records preserves the evidence chain for the deadline date.

For a tradesperson managing dozens of landlord customers, the admin is the hard part: which properties fall due next month, which are inside their 10-to-12-month window, and which records were actually sent to tenants. This is the sort of recurring-work tracking a job-management tool handles well — TradeIQ, for instance, includes an Inspections tab that produces CP12-style records and keeps the renewal dates visible, giving you a structured head start (though the legal duty always sits with the landlord and the signing engineer, not the software).

Common failures to avoid

1. Letting the check lapse because the renewal window was misunderstood — book at the 10-month point, not the 12th.
2. Records missing the engineer's Gas Safe number or signature.
3. Flues serving tenants' own appliances silently omitted.
4. No proof the tenant was given a copy — send it by a method you can evidence, and keep the proof with the record.
5. Defects noted on the record but no follow-up remedial work ever documented.

This guide is general information, not legal, tax or compliance advice. Rules change — always check the current official guidance for your situation.