What to check before instructing a gas or electrical contractor

Instructing a gas or electrical contractor for a rented property carries a bit more weight than instructing one for your own home, because the certificate they issue becomes part of a legal compliance record, not just a receipt for work done. It's worth a slightly more deliberate check before handing over the keys.

Registration is the floor, not the whole answer

For gas work, confirming Gas Safe registration is the non-negotiable starting point, but registration is granted by appliance category — checking the specific categories on the ID card against the actual appliances in the property matters more than just confirming a card exists. For electrical work, the equivalent is membership of a recognised competent person scheme, which similarly needs checking for scope, not just presence.

Insurance that actually covers the job

Public liability insurance is standard, but it's worth confirming the level of cover is appropriate to the property and the work, and that the policy is current rather than recently lapsed. This is one of the specific gaps a proper contractor register is built to catch, because insurance expiry dates are just as easy to lose track of as certificate expiry dates.

References and a track record on rented, not just owner-occupied, properties

A contractor with strong reviews for owner-occupied domestic work isn't automatically well suited to letting work, which comes with its own practical demands — coordinating access with tenants rather than owners, working around occupied properties, and communicating findings clearly enough that an agent who wasn't on site can act on them. It's worth asking directly about experience with rented property work specifically.

• –Registration and accreditation checked against the specific work required, not just confirmed to exist
• –Current, adequate public liability insurance, not a policy that's quietly lapsed
• –A track record with tenanted, not just owner-occupied, properties
• –Clear, written reporting that a non-specialist can act on without a follow-up phone call
• –A response time for urgent findings that matches how quickly a dangerous fault actually needs addressing

Communication quality is a genuine filter, not a nice-to-have

A technically competent contractor who can't explain findings in terms a letting agent or landlord can act on creates its own kind of risk — a coded EICR finding that nobody downstream properly understood is functionally the same as a finding that was never reported at all. The best contractors treat clear explanation as part of the job, not an afterthought.

Keeping the relationship, not just the one job

It's worth building an ongoing relationship with a small, trusted pool of contractors rather than sourcing a new one for every job — familiarity with a portfolio's properties speeds up future visits, and a contractor who knows the history of a property's electrics or heating system tends to spot issues faster than one seeing it for the first time.

Capacity matters as much as competence

A contractor's qualifications are necessary and comparatively easy to verify. What is harder to assess, and matters just as much across a portfolio, is whether they can absorb your actual volume — including the month when thirty renewals land at once, and the Friday when something urgent needs attention. A technically excellent contractor who cannot attend for three weeks creates a compliance problem regardless of their credentials.

Worth establishing before appointment: what turnaround they commit to, how they handle no-access, how quickly certificates reach you afterwards, and whether their capacity grows with your portfolio. The last question is the one most likely to become relevant.

Common mistakes

• –Verifying qualifications without assessing capacity for your volume
• –No agreed turnaround for routine or urgent attendance
• –Certificates arriving weeks after the visit, leaving records stale
• –No agreed process for failed access attempts
• –Relying on a single contractor with no alternative arranged
• –Not re-checking registration and insurance after the initial appointment