The Landlord’s Compliance Checklist: Gas Safety, EICR, EPC and More

Every rental property in England needs a valid Gas Safety Certificate, EICR, EPC, tenancy deposit protection, working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and Right to Rent checks completed before move-in – with HMO licensing on top if the property qualifies. Missing any one of them isn’t a technicality; it can block a valid eviction, trigger a fine, or both. Here’s what each actually requires, in plain English.

At a glance

Gas Safety Certificate (CP12)

Any property with a gas appliance needs an annual safety check by a Gas Safe registered engineer, covering boilers, cookers, fires and flues. The resulting certificate – often called a CP12 – has to be given to the tenant before they move in, and again within 28 days of every renewal check after that. Records need keeping for at least two years. This is one of the oldest and most strictly enforced landlord duties, and it’s usually the first thing checked if anything goes wrong with a gas appliance.

Electrical Safety – EICR

An Electrical Installation Condition Report is required at least every five years, or whenever a tenancy changes if the existing report is close to expiry. It has to be carried out by a qualified electrician and given to the tenant before they move in. An EICR that flags serious issues (classified C1 or C2) needs those issues fixed within 28 days, or sooner if the report says so.

Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)

Every rental property needs a valid EPC before it can be marketed or let, and the legal minimum today is Band E – a property rated F or G generally can’t be let without a registered exemption. That minimum is changing: under the government’s Warm Homes Plan, confirmed in early 2026, rental properties will need to reach Band C by 1 October 2030. With over half of the private rented sector currently below that standard, it’s worth treating this as a live planning issue now rather than a last-minute scramble in 2030.

Right to Rent Checks

Before a tenancy starts, landlords must check that every adult occupant has the right to rent in the UK and keep evidence of that check on file. This applies regardless of nationality – British and Irish tenants still need their status verified, usually via a passport or other accepted document. Failing to carry out or evidence these checks can result in a civil penalty even if the tenant does turn out to have the right to rent.

Deposit Protection

Any deposit taken has to be registered with a government-approved scheme within 30 days of receipt, with prescribed information served on the tenant confirming where it’s held and how disputes are resolved. Getting this wrong doesn’t just risk a penalty of up to three times the deposit – it can also block a landlord from serving a valid Section 8 notice until it’s put right.

Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms

At least one working smoke alarm is required on every storey of the property used as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm is required in any room with a fixed combustion appliance – a gas boiler, a log burner, an open fire – though not a gas cooker on its own. Alarms need to be tested and working on the first day of every new tenancy, and any fault a tenant reports needs fixing promptly.

HMO Licensing

If a property is let to five or more people from two or more separate households sharing facilities like a kitchen or bathroom, it very likely needs an HMO licence from the local authority. Licensing conditions typically cover minimum room sizes, fire safety provision and management standards, and operating an unlicensed HMO that should be licensed is a criminal offence, not just a paperwork gap.

“Landlords sometimes tell me they didn’t realise a missing gas certificate could actually stop them getting their property back, not just result in a fine. That’s usually the moment it clicks that this isn’t paperwork for its own sake – it’s genuinely tied to whether you can act when you need to. I keep a renewal date for every certificate on every property we manage, not because it’s the minimum PropertyMark expects, but because I’ve seen what happens when a landlord finds out mid-eviction that something lapsed months ago. If you manage your own portfolio, my honest advice is to put reminder dates in your calendar the day each certificate is issued, not the week before it’s due.”

Joanne, Property Management & Lettings

None of this is designed to catch landlords out – it’s there to protect tenants and, in the end, to protect landlords too, since most of these requirements are also what stands between a valid eviction and a stalled one. If you’d rather this was someone else’s job to track, that’s exactly what Joanne does for our managed properties.

The difference is in the detail.