The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the UK’s national regulator for health and safety matters. They aim to prevent death, injury and ill health to employees and the public through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses.
In a recent case, the HSE investigated a Plymouth landlord after gas appliances at his rental property in were found to be ‘Immediately Dangerous’. The landlord, Lokendra Khadka, had failed to ever have gas appliances checked for safety at his rental property. In addition, he had arranged for an unidentified person to make alterations to a gas boiler flue and that person had left it in an extremely dangerous state.
The landlord pleaded guilty to breaching the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. He was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months and ordered to pay costs of £4,904.
This case is a reminder to landlords to make sure they only use installers on the Gas Safe Register and that gas appliances at tenanted properties must be checked for safety on an annual basis.