Propertymark Belvoir Colchester is urging all landlords and tenants to be gas safe as well as choosing their letting agent wisely during the annual Gas Safety Week (14 – 20 September).
Gas Safety Week is a national safety campaign to raise awareness of gas safety in the UK’s 23 million gas fuelled homes. It is co-ordinated by Gas Safe Register with support from the gas industry including retailers, manufacturers, consumer bodies and the public.
With 20 deaths and 1,000 gas-related injuries in the last three years, it’s vital that people make sure their gas appliances are safety checked every year by a registered engineer. Anyone working on gas appliances while not being Gas Safe registered, is working illegally.
Follow these three simple top tips to stay gas safe:
Get all of your gas appliances safety checked once a year by a registered engineer and sign up to a free reminder service at StayGasSafe.co.uk Make sure your engineer is legal and safe, by making sure they are registered with Gas Safe Register, the UK’s official gas authority. You can check by calling 0800 408 5500 or visiting GasSafeRegister.co.uk Check for warning signs your appliances aren’t working correctly, such as a lazy yellow flame instead of a crisp blue one, black marks on or around the appliance and too much condensation in the room.
Propertymark is an easily identifiable logo signposting letting agents who are part of a Client Money Protection Scheme. This means that landlord and tenant funds will be safe and protected, if an agent misappropriates or uses clients’ funds fraudulently.
Propertymark firm Julie Davis says: “The importance of maintaining gas appliances should not be underestimated: the consequences can be fatal. We are committed to ensuring that all of our properties are gas safe and we are proud to support Gas Safety Week.”
About Propertymark
Propertymark – Safe Agent Fully Endorsed – is a reliable mark denoting firms that protect landlords and tenants money through Client Money Protection schemes. Set up ‘by the industry, for the industry’ and recognised by the Government, it is supported by Citizens Advice Bureaux, The Property Ombudsman, Ombudsman Services:Property, My Deposits, TDS and DPS.
All agents registered with Propertymark are part of a Client Money Protection Scheme which reimburses consumers in the event of misappropriation of clients’ funds. There are several schemes in the sector operated by Propertymark, ARLA, NAEA, RICS and UKALA to which agents voluntarily belong. The scope of these schemes varies and consumers should contact their agent for full details of the scheme of which they are covered under.
To find a Propertymark in your area visit www.Propertymarks.co.uk
