Tenants paying for gas safety check

[internetCrazies]

I've just been visiting my mum's rented house and a friend who is a plumber was there doing the annual gas safety check. Mum said it was £75 she could do without having to pay right now as she's skint. Plumber asked what was the £75 for and apparently that's the landlord's charge each year to tenants for the check. She will be invoiced soon. Plumber friend scoffed at that seeing that he doesn't even charge that much!

She's in Scotland and the landlord company is based in Nottingham. Charging tenants is illegal, right? Surely?

I don't know if it's illegal to charge the tenant as such, but it's the landlords legal responsibility to have the check done yearly. If your mum refused to pay the landlord will still have to have it done.

I've never heard of the tenant paying.

It's something we, as landlords, pay for our house to allow us to rent it out legally.

I have never heard of a tenant paying for that as it is the landlords responsability. Not even the shittiest landlords I have heard of have done that.

Ll pays for ours. His responsibility.

There is no law saying who has to pay for it. But Im a ll and Ive never heard of the tenant having to pay for it and I dont think its right as it is something the ll has to do for the property to be legally compliant.

PS there are a few other things I have heard being charged for and also dont think its right - property inspections, contract renewals. Check your mum isnt paying for these too and suggest she speak to the agent to see if this is the norm in her area.

LL has a legal responsibility to have the gas safety check done. It is therefore their bill to pay.

Get her to speak to CAB or Shelter. They should be able to give her appropriate advice to tell the agency to sod off!

My Dh is a heating engineer and has never known a tenant to pay for the annual gas checks he’s done at a rented property. I’m quite shocked actually!

I have been renting for 4 and a half years and have never had to pay for that. I think her LL is having her on.

No, it's the landlord's responsibility.

I pay for the annual boiler service (oil) as a l/l in UK, and I pay for it as a tenant in Belgium.

The gas safety check is scheduled for Monday for our house. No mention was made of payment. I live in the East Midlands.

I’m a landlord in the U.K. and have always paid. I’m also a tenant in the supposed Renter’s Utopia of Germany and expect it will be added to the giant bill the landlord will present us with at the end of the year along with every other possible cost you can imagine.

100% the Landlord's responsibility. They need one to legally let the property. I am outraged that they would then try and then pass the cost on to the tenant!! No gas safety certificate - no tenant. Without one the Landlord could go to jail (in theory).

My DD is a landlady and she and her OH pay for any statutory safety checks.

My DM is a landlord, she pays for all the certificate and British Gas cover. It is the landlords responsibility.

I've rented 4 houses. Never paid for the gas certificate, it's not my responsibility it's the landlords.

I pay for my tenants as it's my responsibility as the landlord.

It is categorically the LL's responsibility. Your mum should not ever be paying this.

And get a rebate for the years she had paid

Landlord pays. What other dodgy stuff is going on?

Laws are different in Scotland and are about to change big time. She needs to get informed.

It will depend on the terms of the Lease your mum has signed. The Landlord needs to check done, but to be fair if they don't ask her to pay it directly it would probably just get added to the rent anyway.

She may have signed a tenancy which states she will pay for it. Doesn't stop it being the landlord's responsibility to get it sorted though.

I've been a landlord and a tenant in England (at the same time, actually but not for the same house!) and I paid for the gas check and a boiler service as a Landlord, and not as a tenant.

It's probably not illegal to charge the tenant but I can't think why you would unless the law is wildly different in Scotland and I doubt it is.

That's what I thought. A cost that is LL's as they have to have it done by law. They're are not the best landlords by any stretch of the imagination. I do know that it is 100% illegal to charge signing up fees and credit check fees in Scotland but is legal in England. They still charge the prospective Scotland tenants no matter what.
Problem with the gas safety certificate is that I can't find it written in law that they CANT charge the tenant, just that it's LL's responsibility to have one done. If I could find something that I can use, I will email the greedy gits myself and tell my mum to tell them to GTF.

It's definitely not going to be illegal to ask the tenant to pay. You need to check the tenancy agreement, but the cost will be passed to your mum one way or another, either an increase in monthly rent, or a one off yearly payment, so it's sort of moot.