Tenby landlord sentenced for gas safety failings

Date:

16 January 2012

A Tenby landlord has been fined for failing to maintain a gas fire safely within one of his properties.

David Ian Douglas-Law of Penally, Tenby, was fined £8,500 and ordered to pay costs of £1,500 at Haverfordwest Magistrates' Court following a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The court heard Mr Douglas-Law's tenant had originally raised a complaint with Pembrokeshire County Council environmental health officers over cold and damp conditions at the property.

On viewing the conditions at the property, council officers served Mr Douglas-Law an Improvements Notice under the Housing Act and reported concerns about the condition of the gas appliances to the HSE.

A HSE investigation discovered he had failed to maintain the gas fire in a safe condition, as well as failing, over a period of six years, to ensure the appliance was checked for safety every 12 months.

While no injuries were sustained, Mr Douglas-Law's tenant and her son were prompted to visit the hospital to check for exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) after an alarm at the property indicated a high CO reading.

In summing up today, the magistrate said Mr Douglas-Law had been extremely lucky that no harm had come to his tenants.

David Ian Douglas-Law, 63, of Penally, Tenby, pleaded guilty to breaching regulations 36 (2), 36 (3) (a), 36 (3) (b) and 36 (4) of the Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regulations 1998. He was fined a total of £8,500 and ordered to pay costs of £1,500, plus a £15 victim surcharge.

HSE inspector Stephen Jones said:

"Landlords must ensure that gas appliances are maintained in a safe condition and tenants must not be exposed to the risk of carbon monoxide. Work on gas appliances may only be carried out by a competent person such as a gas safe registered person.

"Where the evidence indicates that landlords such as Mr Douglas-Law have failed to meet their important safety responsibilities, HSE will take enforcement action including prosecution in the courts."

Paul Johnston, chief executive of Gas Safe Register, said:

"Landlords have a legal duty to ensure gas appliances in any property they rent are safety checked once a year and that they provide a copy of the gas safety record to their tenants. It is also a requirement that they use a suitably qualified Gas Safe registered engineer to carry out the work.

"Tenants should also be aware of their rights when it comes to gas appliances and ask to see a copy of the gas safety record if one has not already been provided."

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. More information for landlords on gas safety is available on the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/domestic/faqlandlord.htm
3. Section 36 (2) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 states: "Every landlord shall ensure that there is maintained in a safe condition (a)any relevant gas fitting; and (b)any flue which serves any relevant gas fitting, so as to prevent the risk of injury to any person in lawful occupation or relevant premises."
4. Section 36 (3) (a) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 states: "Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (2) above, a landlord shall ensure that each appliance and flue to which that duty extends is checked for safety within 12 months of being installed and at intervals of not more than 12 months since it was last checked for safety (whether such check was made pursuant to these Regulations or not)."
5. Section 36 (3) (c) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 states: "In the case of a lease commencing after the coming into force of these Regulations, ensure that each appliance and flue to which the duty extends has been checked for safety within a period of 12 months before the lease commences or has been or is so checked within 12 months after the appliance or flue has been installed, whichever is later."
6. Section 36 (4) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 states: "Every landlord shall ensure that any work in relation to a relevant gas fitting or any check of a gas appliance or flue carried out pursuant to paragraphs (2) or (3) above is carried out by, or by an employee of, a member of a class of persons approved for the time being by the Health and Safety Executive for the purposes of regulation 3(3) of these Regulations."

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