Landlord Prosecuted for Falsifying a Gas Safety Certificate

Terence McBride, a landlord from Wigan, has been prosecuted for falsifying a gas safety certificate.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) took legal action against the landlord after discovering that the dates on his gas safety certificate had been altered to make it appear that it was still valid.

The tenant of his property had contacted the authorities after suspecting a carbon monoxide leak at their rented property in Pemberton in May 2011.  A gas engineer attended the property and sealed the gas supply after, indeed, finding a leak.

It was found that the gas safety certificate had been issued in April 2009 and expired 12 months later in April 2010.  McBride provided a copy of the gas safety certificate to his new letting agent in April 2011, with the dates altered so that the document appeared to still be valid.  That letting agent found a tenant for McBride, who moved in to the property in early May, and reported the leak 3 weeks later.

McBride pleaded guilty to a breach of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 by failing to arrange an annual gas safety check.

He was given a community service order requiring him to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £600 towards the cost of the prosecution at a hearing.

Around 20 people die every year in the UK from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by unsafe gas appliances. Landlords are legally required to arrange an annual inspection of their properties by an engineer registered with the Gas Safe Register.

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