Most letting agents in Scotland know what the law asks for. The annual gas safety check, the 28 days to get the record to the tenant, the Repairing Standard and the Letting Agent Code of Practice are all set out in our compliance guide for letting agents. Portfolios come unstuck in the day-to-day running: a spreadsheet one person keeps, certificates scattered across inboxes, a tenant who never answers, a landlord who queries an invoice months later.
Our view is simple. You're not judged on the repair, you're judged on whether you can prove it. When a landlord, tenant or the Housing and Property Chamber asks what happened at a property, the agent with a dated record of every visit, access attempt and approval is the one who is covered.
This guide sets out a working system for gas safety and heating compliance across a portfolio, and how our client portal holds it in one place for agents across Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and East and West Dunbartonshire.
The short answer
- Keep one register covering every property: appliances, last check, deadline date, access notes and the next booked visit, shared with your contractor.
- Book renewals from about eight weeks out. A check done in the two months before the deadline date counts as done on the deadline date, so the anniversary is kept.
- Combine the boiler service and the gas safety check in one visit, and get the record electronically on completion so the 28-day tenant deadline is easy to meet.
- Agree an authority limit with each landlord so defects are priced, approved and fixed without an email chain.
- Log every access attempt, and tell the landlord and tenant promptly about any delay, as the Code expects. A dated record settles disputes.
- Our client portal gives you one login for every property: live job status, certificates, photos, quotes and invoices, with renewals set up as recurring jobs.
What your compliance system has to prove
Since 31 January 2018, letting agents in Scotland have had to follow the Letting Agent Code of Practice. What it says about safety checks and repairs is mostly about process and records, which makes it a useful specification for a compliance system. These are the paragraphs that matter most for gas and heating.
- Para 85. What it asks of you: Systems and controls so safety checks, including gas, are done properly and on time, with records kept. What you should be able to produce: A register of every deadline date, and the record for each check.
- Para 86. What it asks of you: Written repair reporting procedures with target timescales for routine and emergency work. What you should be able to produce: A log of when each job was raised and completed.
- Para 89. What it asks of you: Repairs handled in line with the landlord agreement; anything outside it referred to the landlord in writing. What you should be able to produce: Quotes and approvals tied to each job.
- Para 93. What it asks of you: Landlord and tenant told as soon as possible about any delay, and the reason for it. What you should be able to produce: Dated notes of each delay and who was told.
- Para 95. What it asks of you: Reasonable steps to check contractors' qualifications and liability insurance, with copies kept. What you should be able to produce: A contractor file with registration and insurance documents.
- Para 32(c). What it asks of you: Terms of business stating any delegated authority, such as repair spending limits. What you should be able to produce: Each landlord's agreed authority limit.
Tenants, landlords and the Scottish Ministers can apply to the Housing and Property Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal if they believe an agent has breached the Code. If the Tribunal finds a breach, it must issue a letting agent enforcement order and can award compensation (section 48 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014). The agent's best protection is the paper trail.
Step 1: build one compliance register
Every portfolio needs a single source of truth. A spreadsheet is fine to start with, as long as there is only one and someone owns it.
What to record for each property
- Address, landlord, and the branch or property manager responsible
- Tenant contact details and the best way to reach them
- Each gas appliance and flue: type, make, location, and whether it belongs to the landlord or the tenant
- Date of the last gas safety check and the deadline date for the next one
- Boiler service date, if it is done separately
- Carbon monoxide alarm locations and expiry dates
- Access notes: key holder, close entry code, parking, pets, tenant working hours
- Open defects, warning notices and outstanding quotes
- The date the next visit is actually booked, not just when it is due
Record the deadline date, not just the visit date. Because of the two-month window explained below, a register that only holds visit dates lets renewals creep earlier every year.
Onboarding an existing portfolio
Most agents inherit certificates from several contractors in several formats. Start with a one-off audit: find the latest record for every property and flag anything missing, expired or due within three months, so those are booked first. When you send us your property list, we import properties and portal logins in bulk, so a portfolio is set up in one go rather than one address at a time.
Step 2: book renewals from eight weeks out
Late certificates usually come from starting too late. A tenant on holiday, a missed appointment and a week of bad weather can use up a month between them. Booking from about eight weeks out gives room for all of that.
How the two-month window works
Under regulation 36A of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, in force since April 2018, a check done in the two months ending on the deadline date is treated as done on the deadline date. The next check is then due 12 months after the deadline, not 12 months after the visit. Go earlier than two months and the next check falls due 12 months from the visit. Keep each record until two further checks have been done, so you can show the timescales were met.
There is also a one-off option to check up to two months after the deadline, but only once per appliance and only to align it with another appliance in the same property. It is not a grace period.
A booking rhythm that works
- About 8 weeks before the deadline. What happens: Visit offered to the tenant, combined with the boiler service where the landlord wants it.
- About 6 weeks before. What happens: If there is no reply, a second contact by a different route, plus a letter explaining that the check is a legal requirement and is for their safety.
- About 4 weeks before. What happens: Missed or refused appointments rebooked, and the landlord told there is an access problem.
- About 2 weeks before. What happens: Next steps agreed with the landlord, with every attempt and letter on file.
- Deadline date. What happens: Check done, or a complete record of every reasonable step taken.
Batch by close and by area
In Glasgow tenements and Lanarkshire ex-council blocks, one agent often manages several flats in the same close or street. Aligning their renewals lets one engineer do them on the same day. Because a check more than two months early resets that property's date, decide this once, ideally at onboarding.
Plan around winter
Heating works hardest in a Scottish winter, and that is when a breakdown causes most trouble. If renewals bunch up in December and January, consider moving some to the autumn once and accepting the new date. Before winter, confirm each landlord's approval limit for emergency heating repairs, note vulnerable tenants, and check external condensate pipes are insulated. Nobody should wait on an email when a boiler fails in a freeze.
Step 3: one visit, one record
A gas safety check and a boiler service are different jobs: the check confirms appliances, flues and pipework are safe, while the service cleans and adjusts the boiler to the manufacturer's instructions. Doing both on one visit halves the number of times you need access, which is usually the hardest part. Our prices are fixed and include VAT: a landlord gas safety record is £85 for up to three appliances, plus £35 for each additional appliance, and a boiler service is £89. Our landlord gas safety certificate guide explains what the check covers.
Get the record the same day
Existing tenants must get a copy of the record within 28 days of the check. HSE accepts electronic records that can be printed, are kept secure and identify the engineer, and tenants can receive them electronically if they are happy to (they can still ask for paper). We complete records electronically on site and each one is downloadable against the property in the portal, so you can forward it the same day.
HSE calls the record a living document: it is issued when the check is complete, even if defects are found, and later remedial work is recorded alongside it. A defect isn't closed until the fix is recorded against the same property.
Put this in every tenant pack. If a tenant smells gas, they should call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999, turn off the gas at the meter if it is safe to do so, and open the windows. Carbon monoxide symptoms include headaches, dizziness, nausea, tiredness, breathlessness and confusion, often easing away from the property. Anyone with symptoms should stop using the appliance, get into fresh air and get medical advice.
Step 4: defects, quotes and authority limits
Most landlord disputes are about remedial work, not the check itself: who agreed to it, what it cost and whether it was needed. Agree the rules before the first defect appears.
- Agree an authority limit with each landlord and put it in your terms of business, as paragraph 32(c) of the Code expects. Below the limit you approve; above it the landlord does, in writing.
- Make sure the defect is recorded properly, with notes, photographs and a clear recommendation on the job.
- Handle unsafe situations separately. Under the Gas Industry Unsafe Situations Procedure, an appliance classed as At Risk or Immediately Dangerous is labelled "Danger Do Not Use". If a heating appliance is disconnected, HSE says the landlord must provide emergency heating while it is put right, so you need to know the same day.
- Price everything else as a fixed quote for approval before work starts.
- Record the finished work against the same property, with photographs and any new certificate, and keep the invoice with the job.
Reactive breakdowns follow the same pattern. Our £85 repair call-out covers the visit and diagnosis, and the repair is then given as a fixed price before any work starts, so you or the landlord know the figure before agreeing to it.
Step 5: access, delays and voids
When the tenant doesn't give access
The test is whether all reasonable steps were taken. HSE's guidance is to leave a note after a missed visit, write explaining that the check is a legal requirement for the tenant's safety, offer them the chance to arrange a time, try again, and keep a record of it all. Never force entry. There is no fixed number of attempts, so the record is what counts. Every access attempt we make is recorded on the job with notes, giving you a dated record for the landlord.
When a job is delayed
Paragraph 93 of the Code asks you to tell the landlord and tenant about delays promptly and say why. On heating jobs that is usually parts on order or a second visit. With job status and engineer's notes in front of you, that takes two minutes rather than a morning of chasing.
Voids
An empty property is the easiest time to get in. Check the record's expiry against the likely let date and renew during the void if it would run out early in the new tenancy; the incoming tenant must have a copy of the last record before moving in. If a smart meter installer has left the supply off after a failed test, that needs sorting before anyone moves in; our guide to failed gas tightness tests explains what is involved. Frost protection and the other void checks are in our main compliance guide.
How our client portal works: one call, one login, one calendar
All of this can be run on spreadsheets and email if you have the time. Most agents don't, so our service is built around three things.
One call
Gas, heating and plumbing work is done in-house, with gas work under our Gas Safe registration. Electrical work is carried out through our approved, separately registered contractor and arranged through us, so a leak, a boiler fault and an electrical fault all go through one route into one record.
One login
Our client portal runs in a web browser, so there is nothing to install. Each property appears as a site with its own job history. From it you can:
- See live job status as the engineer progresses, from en route to on site to complete
- Read job notes and engineer recommendations, and view photos and signatures
- Download gas safety records, certificates and reports for each property
- Raise a job yourself, without a phone call or email
- Approve quotes online
- View invoices against the job they relate to
Access can cover the whole agency for head office, or be limited to particular branches or properties, so each property manager sees their own patch and the directors see everything.
One calendar
Your renewal dates sit in our system as well as yours. Each property's gas safety check is a recurring job, so the next visit is scheduled automatically, and we start booking about eight weeks before the deadline date so the anniversary is kept. We arrange access with your office or, if you prefer, directly with the tenant.
- Phoning the contractor for an update. What changes: Job status and engineer's notes are in the portal.
- Hunting for a certificate when someone asks. What changes: Download it against the property.
- Renewal dates in one person's spreadsheet. What changes: Dates held by us too, with the next visit set up automatically.
- Quotes approved by email and then lost. What changes: Approved online, against the job.
- A landlord disputing that anyone attended. What changes: Every visit and access attempt recorded on the job with notes.
How Titan Heat can help
Titan Heat is a Gas Safe registered heating and plumbing business (registration 982732) based in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, working with letting agents and landlords across Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and East and West Dunbartonshire. We'll send our registration details and insurance certificates for your contractor file.
How to get started
- Send us your property list. A spreadsheet with addresses, landlords and the last certificate dates is enough; appliance details help if you have them.
- We set up your properties and renewal dates. We import them in bulk and flag anything missing, expired or due soon.
- You get your logins for head office, branches or individual property managers.
- We book the first visits, starting with anything overdue or due in the next eight weeks.
You can start with a single property and no long-term contract, and we set up your logins and renewal calendar free of charge.
Get in touch to send your list or arrange a short call. If you also look after commercial buildings or shared plant, see our services for property managers.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best way to track gas safety certificates across a rental portfolio?
Keep one register of every property's appliances, last check, deadline date and next booked visit, shared with your contractor. A portal that holds certificates against each property, with renewals as recurring jobs, removes the reliance on one person's spreadsheet.
How early can a landlord gas safety check be done without losing the renewal date?
Up to two months before the deadline date. A check done in that window is treated as done on the deadline date, so the next one is due 12 months after the deadline. A check done earlier than that resets the cycle to the date of the visit.
Can letting agents raise jobs and approve quotes online?
Yes, through our client portal. You can raise a job, follow its status, approve the quote and download the certificate once the work is done, with the invoice viewable against the same job and property.
How long does it take to set up an existing portfolio?
Properties and logins are imported in bulk from your spreadsheet, so set-up is quick. The slower part is usually finding missing or out-of-date certificates, which we flag so those properties are booked first.
How do I prove we tried to get access for a gas safety check?
Keep a record of every attempt: appointments offered, missed visits, notes left, letters and replies. HSE looks for all reasonable steps rather than a set number of attempts. Each access attempt we make is recorded on the job with notes.
Which areas do you cover for letting agents?
For rented homes we cover Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and East and West Dunbartonshire. We're based in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire.
