The 28-Day Rule: When You Must Hand Tenants Their Safety Certificates
UK landlords must give tenants copies of gas and electrical safety certificates within 28 days. Here's what the rule means and how to stay on the right side of it.
There's a rule that trips up more landlords than almost any other compliance requirement, and it's not even about getting the certificate itself — it's about what you do with it afterwards.
What the 28-day rule actually says
Once you've had a gas safety check or an EICR carried out, you're legally required to give your tenant a copy within 28 days. For new tenancies, you need to hand over the most recent certificate before the tenant even moves in.
This applies to:
- Gas Safety Records
- EICRs
- EPCs (given before move-in, not after an inspection)
Why this trips landlords up
It's easy to assume that simply *having* a valid certificate is enough. It isn't. If the engineer's paperwork sits in your inbox for six weeks while you're busy with work, you're already in breach — even if the property itself is perfectly safe.
The consequences of missing it
Failing to provide certificates on time can be used against you if a tenant raises a complaint, and it can undermine your ability to serve a Section 21 notice later on. Councils have also fined landlords specifically for late or missing paperwork, separate from any issue with the property's actual safety.
How to stay on top of it without a spreadsheet
The 28-day rule is really a reminder problem, not a compliance problem — most landlords are perfectly capable of forwarding a PDF to a tenant, they just need a nudge at the right moment. That's the gap KeepCert closes: log the certificate, and the system tracks both the renewal date *and* whether it's been shared with your tenant, so nothing slips through a 28-day window you didn't even know was ticking.