-
5/12/25 4:43 pm
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
It’s a small omission that can cause a very big problem: a landlord’s address missing from the annual gas safety certificate (Form CP12).
In fact, it seems so minor that judges often miss it, too. Except when they don’t. And we at Landlord Action can assure you that it is within their power to dismiss a Section 21 claim on this ground alone.
Regulation 36(3)(c)(iii) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, says that the annual Gas Safety Certificate must include the name and address of the landlord (or their agent). If that address is missing, the record is non-compliant. That means you haven’t met your statutory duty, even if every boiler and flue in the property is in perfect working order. Yet we have seen plenty of cases where the gas engineer has forgotten to complete this detail on the form, and the landlord has not had corrected it.
Many landlords see this as an administrative detail. After all, the engineer’s details and the property address might be there, and the certificate confirms the gas appliances are safe. But we have seen judges become increasingly particular on this point.
In cases where the gas engineer’s details are on the certificate (they rarely forget that), we have tried to argue that the engineer was effectively acting as agent of the landlord (relying on Lowe v Governors of Sutton’s Hospital in Charterhouse (2024) and Northwood (Solihull) Ltd v Fearn (2022)). But results have been mixed.
Ultimately, the law doesn’t reward landlords for being “nearly compliant.” A single missing line can unravel your legal protections. Gas safety compliance is central to Section 21 claims since the Deregulation Act 2015. Most landlords know that without a valid CP12, you cannot serve a valid Section 21 notice to recover possession under the Housing Act 1988. A defective certificate – one that just leaves out your address - will invalidate the notice entirely. We are seeing more possession claims struck out on this basis, with landlords forced to restart proceedings, re-serve documents (after getting the gas engineer to amend the CP12), and wait months longer to regain their property.
The solution is simple but often overlooked: check the gas engineer’s certificate. Make sure it includes your name and correspondence address, not just the address of your tenanted property. If the engineer has omitted your address, ask for it to be amended immediately and serve the amended certificate on your tenant. Keep a digital copy with the correct details. Remember, the legal burden to provide a compliant certificate lies with you, not the engineer.
In short, the landlord’s address on a CP12 may look like a triviality. But in the courtroom, that missing detail can cost you thousands of pounds and months of delay. Precision in paperwork isn’t bureaucracy; it’s legal armour.
Tags:
.png)
.avif)
Comments