Heating Rights, Gas Safety & Compensation | Tenant Guide

Gas Safety Certificates: What Your Landlord Must Do

The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 require an annual gas safety check by a Gas Safe registered engineer covering the boiler, gas fires, gas cookers (if landlord provided), and any other gas appliances. Your landlord must provide you a copy of the gas safety record (CP12) within 28 days. If they have not, they are committing a criminal offence: fines up to £6,000 and imprisonment up to six months. Report to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or your local council.

Carbon monoxide alarms are required in rooms with gas boilers or fires (since October 2022). If your CO alarm sounds, leave the property immediately and call the Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999.

Landlord Obligations and Repair Timeframes

Under Section 11, your landlord must keep heating and hot water installations in good repair. The Homes Act 2018 requires the property to be fit for habitation. The HHSRS identifies excess cold as a potential Category 1 hazard. There is no specific minimum temperature in law, but the WHO recommends 18°C for healthy adults and 21°C for vulnerable people.

Emergency (no heating or hot water): 24 hours. Urgent (partial heating): 3 to 7 days. Non-urgent: up to 28 days. If your landlord ignores the deadline: send written notice, contact environmental health, contact Citizens Advice, consider legal action. If you buy portable heaters because your landlord failed to repair, keep receipts to claim costs back.

Compensation for No Heating

Methods: negotiate a rent reduction, claim through the council, Housing Ombudsman (social housing), or a solicitor. There is no fixed amount: calculate daily rent and claim a proportion for each affected day. Winter claims are valued higher. Presence of children or vulnerable people increases the amount. You can also claim back costs for portable heaters, extra electricity, and staying elsewhere.

Can you withhold rent? Generally not without legal advice, as it can lead to eviction proceedings. Pursuing a compensation claim while continuing to pay rent is the safer approach.

Council and Housing Association Tenants

Same rights as private tenants. The council or housing association is your landlord. Report through official repairs channels. If not resolved within emergency timeframes, make a formal Stage 1 complaint, escalate to Stage 2, then the Housing Ombudsman. For no heating in a council property, the same 24 hour emergency timeline applies. If the council fails to act, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman can investigate.

Scotland: the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 and the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland provide enforcement mechanisms. Retaliatory eviction is prohibited under PRT regulations.

Common Questions