Mansfield District Council has been reminding its tenants of the importance of annual gas safety checks.
The authority has a legal duty as a landlord to ensure each of its homes with gas appliances or heating is checked annually to ensure they are working safely. Its gas maintenance engineers carry out more than 10,000 visits across the district each year to maintain the safe operation of gas boilers and appliances.
It has been using National Gas Safety Week, this week, to remind tenants of the importance of the check and has also introduced evening and weekend phone calls to reach those tenants who find it difficult to take calls in normal working hours, to fix up a convenient time for the engineers to visit, including some out of hours visits.
Cllr Marion Bradshaw, Portfolio Holder for Safer Communities, Housing and Wellbeing, said: “By taking care of our tenant’s gas appliances properly, we are providing the best possible care for our customers and their neighbours.
“Badly fitted or poorly serviced gas appliances can cause gas leaks, fires, explosions, and the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. This gas is highly poisonous and can kill quickly and without warning because you can’t see it, taste it or smell it.
“Changing the way we work, to include out of hours and weekend telephone calls, and bringing in new and more efficient ways of processing gas checks, has meant we’ve been making significant inroads to a post-Covid backlog of gas servicing, and I am pleased to report that we’re now close to 100% compliance with our statutory duty of care on this.
“We are a responsible landlord so we are always aiming to check every property annually but what has tended to thwart our target to achieve full compliance is not being able to gain access to a tenant’s property.
“The limited out of hours service, so that appointments can be made that work around a tenant’s work commitments, has been a particular success in overcoming this, with 100% access gained on these appointments.”
The landlords of private rented accommodation also have a legal obligation to check gas appliances in their tenanted properties every year. Any tenants concerned about the safety of gas appliances in their private rented home can ask for advice from the council’s Private Sector Housing Team by calling on 01623 463212 or by emailing the team (link opens in email app).
Anyone who smells gas should immediately call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999.