What being Gas Safe registered means
Gas Safe Register is the official register of gas businesses and engineers for the UK, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey. It has been the official gas safety body since 2009, and in Great Britain it is run on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive. If a business works on gas, it has to be on the register. There is no optional version.
Videtta Heating & Plumbing is registered under business number 595115. Engineers are registered individually too, under the business they work for, and each one holds a licence listing the gas work they are qualified to do. Jordan Videtta, who started the company, is one of them, registered for domestic gas work. You can meet him and the rest of the engineers on our team page.
Gas Safe Register keeps that list up to date, inspects engineers’ gas work, investigates reports of unsafe work and tracks down people doing gas work illegally.
Why it matters in your home
A badly fitted or poorly maintained gas appliance can leak gas or produce carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas you cannot see, smell or taste. That is the reason the law exists. For you, using a registered business means:
- The right engineer for the appliance. Engineers qualify for specific types of gas work, so being qualified on boilers does not automatically cover a gas fire. The categories are printed on every engineer’s ID card.
- The right paperwork. When we fit a new boiler, we notify it through Gas Safe Register and your certificate follows by post.
- Somewhere to turn. If you are ever worried about gas work done in your home, by anyone, Gas Safe Register can investigate.
- A guarantee that stands. Worcester Bosch, for one, makes its guarantee conditional on the boiler being installed and serviced every year by a properly certified engineer, as we explain on our Worcester Bosch accreditation page.
The paperwork that comes with a new boiler
In England and Wales, every new heat-producing gas appliance, such as a boiler or gas fire, has to be notified to the local authority within 30 days of installation. As a registered business we do that through Gas Safe Register, and your Building Regulations Compliance Certificate arrives in the post, usually within 10 to 15 working days.
Keep it with your house deeds. The certificate belongs to the property rather than to you, so it passes to the next owner when you sell, and it can come up when you remortgage too. If you are planning a replacement, our boiler installations page explains how we survey, size and fit a new boiler.
Once it is in, an annual service keeps it safe and efficient. Our boiler servicing engineers check for problems you would never spot yourself, such as unsafe gas pressure or a faulty flue, and our guide to what happens during a boiler service walks through the visit step by step.
Landlords: the annual gas safety check
If you let a property, the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 put gas safety on you. The Health and Safety Executive’s guidance is clear on the essentials:
- Have the gas appliances you provide checked every year by a Gas Safe registered engineer.
- Give existing tenants a copy of the record within 28 days of the check.
- Give new tenants a copy before they move in.
- Keep each record for at least two years.
We carry out landlord gas safety checks across Leighton Buzzard, Milton Keynes and the surrounding towns. If the boiler is due a service as well, ask about booking both together.
What Gas Safe registration does not cover
It is worth being straight about the limits. Gas Safe is a safety and competence register. It does not recommend one business over another, it does not employ engineers, it does not run criminal background checks, and it will not step into disputes about money or contracts.
That is why we hold two other accreditations that look at different things. Which? assessed how we run the business and treat customers before endorsing us as a Which? Trusted Trader, and Worcester Bosch recognises our training and installation record as Accredited Partners. You can compare all three on our accreditations page.
If someone cannot show you a Gas Safe ID card
Do not let them start. That is Gas Safe Register’s own advice, and ours. A fitter without a valid card is breaking the law, whatever the price. You can report suspected illegal gas work to Gas Safe Register online or on 0800 408 5500.
If you have been tempted to fit a boiler yourself, our article on DIY versus professional boiler installation sets out the risks plainly.