Scope: Great Britain. The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 apply in England, Wales and Scotland. Verified against the legislation on 10 August 2026.
The duty in regulation 36 is not "get a gas check". It is to ensure the check is carried out by a competent person — and the law makes you responsible for that, not the engineer.
Verifying the engineer takes a minute
Every legitimate engineer carries a Gas Safe ID card. Two things to check, and the second is the one people skip:
- The card is current. Front: photograph, licence number, expiry date.
- The back lists the work they are qualified for. Registration is not general. An engineer qualified for domestic boilers may not be qualified for a gas fire, a cooker, or commercial catering equipment. The categories are on the reverse.
Check the licence number on the Gas Safe Register's own site. If a certificate later turns out to have come from someone unregistered, you have not complied — and the document is worthless.
Reading the Gas Safety Record
"CP12" is trade shorthand; the legal thing is a Gas Safety Record. It should carry:
- The engineer's name and Gas Safe licence number.
- The property address, and yours.
- The date of the check — this is what the twelve months run from.
- Every appliance tested, by location and type.
- The result for each, plus any defects and what was done.
- Confirmation that flues and ventilation were checked.
A record listing two appliances in a property with three is not a complete record. Count them yourself.
The classifications, and what each one means
| Code | Meaning | What happens |
|---|
| ID | Immediately Dangerous | Disconnected with your permission, there and then. Do not reconnect until fixed. |
| AR | At Risk | Turned off with permission. Fix before use. |
| NCS | Not to Current Standards | Not immediately unsafe, but should be improved. |
An ID or AR result is not a suggestion. If the tenant refuses to allow disconnection, the engineer will report it — and the position is then out of your hands and into the gas emergency service's.
The record goes to the tenant
Within 28 days of the check to an existing tenant, and to a new tenant before they occupy. That is the same 28-day rhythm as the EICR, and it recurs — see mid-tenancy re-service.
Keep records for at least two years. Keeping them longer costs nothing and answers questions you cannot anticipate.
Run the free compliance check and we will track the twelve-month cycle for you.