How to Store and Renew a Gas Safety Certificate So the File Is Ready When Asked

The PDF sits in email, last year’s paper is hidden in a drawer, and there is no proof the tenant was sent a copy. How to store and renew a gas safety certificate as a landlord in the UK is one property Gas folder: a named record, a two-month booking window, a sent copy on the 28-day or before-occupation clock, and current plus previous PDFs. Name it, tick the fields, diary the window, send, store — then stop.

Tuesday. Nadine’s incoming couple in Sheffield ask for the gas record before they collect keys. The engineer emailed a PDF at 16:40; she forwarded it to herself. Nineteen days on she has hunted three inboxes: current file still there, last year’s paper in a kitchen drawer, no sent-date. Booking next May would drag a September anniversary earlier. In practice a named Gas folder with both PDFs would have been the file.

Disclaimer: IziRento is operations software, not legal advice. Local tenancy rules vary; check a qualified adviser for binding decisions.

What does the Landlord Gas Safety Record need to show?

The official name is Landlord gas safety record. In the trade it is still called a CP12 — the page the engineer issues after the annual check. Gas Safe Register does not produce its own form. Open the PDF and tick the HSE fields before you file it. An invoice or a booking confirmation is not the record.

Only a Gas Safe registered engineer — someone on the official register allowed to work on gas — issues it. Check their ID card. HSE lists the minimum contents: address; landlord or agent; check date; each appliance and location; engineer name, number and signature; any defect and remedial; confirmation of the check. The landlord does not have to sign. One record usually covers every appliance on that visit.

Do open the PDF the same day and tick those fields. Do ask the engineer if a line is blank. Do not invent lines or file the invoice as the record. HSE calls it a living document: issue on completion even with a defect, then clip the follow-up note. Do not wait for one clean certificate.

For example, a “gas safe cert” email with only a job number is not the record. Typical mistake: three filenames and no idea which PDF has the fields.

When to book so the anniversary does not slip

Each appliance and flue must be checked at intervals of not more than 12 months. Diary the deadline date, not a vague “next spring”. Book a Gas Safe registered engineer inside the two-month window that ends on that deadline if you want September to stay September.

Regulation 36A, from 6 April 2018, treats a check in the two months ending with the deadline as made on the deadline date, so the anniversary holds. HSE leaflet INDG285 puts the same idea as any time from 10 to 12 calendar months after the previous check.

Book earlier than that window and the check is still valid, but the deadline-date rule does not apply. The next 12 months run from the actual check date. There is no general grace period after expiry. The late limb of 36A is a one-time alignment tool — not an amnesty.

For example, if the deadline is 15 September, book from about 15 July. Book in May and next year’s clock starts in May. Do put a reminder that opens two months early.

How do you send the tenant a copy and keep proof?

A sitting tenant must get a copy within 28 days of the check date — not 28 days from when the PDF landed in your inbox. A new tenant must get a copy of the last record before they occupy. Save the sent email or signed receipt with the PDF.

Those two clocks sit in regulation 36. Occupancy of 28 days or less may use a prominent display instead of handing a copy. HSE says an electronic copy is allowed if the tenant is happy and can access it; give paper if they ask. The engineer may email them if you agree. A current record lasts twelve months from the check date and must be given before a new tenant moves in.

Do send on the check-date clock. Do keep To, date, and the attachment name. Typical mistake: forwarding the PDF to yourself and calling that “sent”. The gas copy sits with day-one handover, not instead of it — the tenant welcome pack is contacts and shut-offs; the CP12 stays its own PDF. Do not wait until they ask.

Where do you keep current and previous gas records?

Put current and previous records in one property Gas folder. Electronic storage is allowed if you can print the copy, it is not casually overwritten, and the engineer is identifiable. Do not leave this year’s PDF in email and last year’s paper in a drawer.

HSE shorthand is keep records for at least two years. The statute says until two further checks, or two years from the last check if the appliance is removed. After an early-window check, keep it until two further checks. Practical habit: the last three PDFs.

Name files so they sort by date, for example 2026-09-15-landlord-gas-safety-record.pdf. Do not delete last year’s PDF the day the new one arrives. A mid-tenancy walk is a different file — the periodic inspection checklist — not a substitute for the Gas folder. Other certificates live in their own folders.

An IziRento workspace can hold the property, the lease, a reminder and these PDFs on one record.

What if the engineer finds a defect, or nobody is in?

If the engineer finds a fault, keep the issued record as written and clip the quote, remedial or re-check to it. If nobody is in, keep the no-access job sheet, the notice you left, and every written chase. That is the file until the check happens.

Do not hide the failed visit. The appliance stays unused if it is unsafe — the engineer’s call, not a DIY bypass. HSE: do not use force. Leave a notice, write that the check is a legal safety requirement, offer a new slot, and keep all correspondence. Inspectors look for repeated attempts.

When the check happens, send the record as normal and clip it to the same folder. Success bar: named file, HSE fields ticked, two-month reminder, sent proof, current plus previous PDFs, any remedial clipped. Verify that list, then stop. You do not become a Gas Safe engineer.

Name the record → tick HSE fields → book inside the two-month window → send + proof → store current + previous → clip remedials → stop