Moray Council tenants urged to allow access for essential gas safety inspections
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TENANTS living in homes owned by Moray Council are being urged to allow access for essential gas safety inspections.
Moray Council’s gas servicing team will make multiple attempts to contact tenants who have missed their annual gas safety inspection to arrange for this to take place.
If no contact can be made, no response is received from letters or calls or access at the property is refused, tenants may face forced entry as a last resort. The door will be forced, locks replaced, and the tenant charged for repair work.
Of the 4600 properties requiring gas inspections, six were the subject of a forced entry last year.
Moray Council’s head of housing and property Richard Anderson said: “We recognise and respect that there may be vulnerable people shielding in homes during the coronavirus outbreak, therefore we have delayed a number of these inspections at the request of tenants.
"However we have a legal duty to carry these out as responsible landlords, and we are no longer in a position to delay inspections. Scottish Government guidance now allows us to work in the homes of clinically vulnerable, so long as safeguarding measures are in place.
“It’s our priority to keep tenants and their households safe, and we can reassure them that our tradespeople will comply with the current Covid-related safe working procedures.
"We ask that when we carry out these inspections tenants move to another room in the property, if possible, and staff will adhere to social distancing and be wearing appropriate PPE.
“It’s important to note that forced entries are extremely few and far between. It is a last resort, so we would urge tenants to co-operate with us and allow access to their home for these vital, and potentially life-saving, safety checks.”
