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Many property investors failing to conduct gas safety checks
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
A concerning new report has revealed that hundreds of thousands of properties are at risk of a life-threatening gas incident. These could be linked to features such as a carbon monoxide leak, or failures with boilers, fires, radiators and cookers.
CORGI HomePlan, who carried out the survey, feel that many investors are failing to carry out potentially life-saving checks before buying property.
Concerns
The study found that only 10% of property purchasers considered it necessary to check the safety of a property before completing a purchase. 28% thought a full check was covered in the mortgage lenders’ survey.
Most commonly, new property owners overlook the working condition of their boiler, with 39% net getting a qualified engineer in to test it.
Worryingly, 70% of new property owners questioned said they did not know that new homebuyers can request a service record of all gas appliances-including boilers, central heating, cookers and fires.
Wales was found to be the safest area, with eight in ten respondents having a Gas Safe Registered engineer to assess their property before buying. On the other hand, Londoners were found to be least safety conscious, with just 38% of people in the capital following suit.
Many property investors failing to conduct gas safety checks
Reports
Kevin Treanor, director of CORGI HomePlan, said: ‘Buying a new home is an exciting time and one that often involves committing yourself to the limit of your finances. However, just as you wouldn’t commit to buy a property without seeing the surveyor’s report first, it is just as important that homebuyers also see the full service record of all gas appliances and have a Gas Safe registered engineer inspect the home too.’[1]
‘Carbon monoxide still kills around 50 people a year and every one of these deaths is avoidable. People must minimise the risks by making sure all their gas appliances are in full working order,’ Mr Treanor added.[2]
[1] https://www.propertyinvestortoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/11/lack-of-safety-checks-being-carried-out-by-property-investors
