The short answer
Per property you are usually tracking a gas safety record that runs for 12 months, an electrical report (EICR) that runs for up to five years, and an EPC that lasts ten. The app is the easy part. What makes any system work is the routine around it. Each date has to sit somewhere that warns you early enough to book an engineer and arrange access with the tenant, and you need a note of when the tenant was given each copy.
LetCompliance does those jobs as part of running the let, next to the rent, the tenancy and the tax. You type the expiry dates in, or drop the certificates in and the dates are read from them, and you are emailed before each one is due.
When it catches people out
Two flats bought a year apart, so the gas checks fall in different months. An EICR done by the previous owner, with a next-inspection date nobody noticed was three years rather than five. A new tenant moving in before anyone sent them the gas safety record. A gas check booked four months early to fit the engineer’s diary, which quietly moved the anniversary forward for good. None of these is about not caring; each is a date that lived in somebody’s head.
How to keep track, step by step
- Gather the current certificate for each property and read the date on it: the gas safety record’s check date, the EICR’s recommended next inspection, the EPC’s expiry
- Put each date somewhere that will warn you, not just store it
- Set the gas reminder two months ahead, because a check in the two months before the deadline keeps the original anniversary
- Give the EICR more notice, because a report with remedial work needs time for the work as well as the test
- When a new certificate arrives, replace the date and keep the old certificate
- Give the tenant a copy and note the date you did
- Keep one list of what is due across every property, to send to your engineer
Your options, compared
- A folder and a phone calendar. Free, and fine for a single flat. The certificates end up in email, the calendar entry is set once and forgotten when you change phone, and there is no record of what the tenant was given.
- A spreadsheet. A tidy list, but it only warns you on the day you open it.
- Your engineer’s reminder. Useful when it comes, but it covers only that engineer’s own work, and only if you stay with them.
- A letting agent. Tracks the dates as part of a management fee charged on every month’s rent.
- A landlord app. LetCompliance gives one property its certificate reminders by email on the free plan, and every paid plan adds the rest of the let: Single at £7.99 a month for one property, Solo at £14.99 for up to 3, Portfolio at £19 for up to 10, Portfolio Plus at £29 for up to 20 and Professional at £49 for any number.
How it works in LetCompliance
- Getting the dates in: type them on the property, or upload the certificate and the expiry is read for gas safety, EICR, EPC and fire risk certificates. When a reading is unclear it is shown to you with the reason, and you save it once you have checked it. When a date cannot be read, you type it in.
- Reminders: emails go 90, 30, 14, 7 and 1 days before each certificate expires. On a paid plan the same reminders can come by text.
- Your own calendar: one private calendar link puts every certificate date into Google, Apple or Outlook, with alarms, next to rent days and tenancy ends.
- One list: Certificate renewals shows every certificate across your properties, soonest first, with any that have no date on file listed at the end, and a filter for them, so they get fixed. Filter it by type and download it as a CSV for your engineer.
- What the certificate says: an unsatisfactory EICR, gas appliances found at risk, or an EPC rated F or G is flagged for you to look at. Nothing is applied to your records automatically.
- Giving it to the tenant: a renewed certificate can be emailed to the current tenants from the renewals list and recorded as given. Tenants also find it in their own portal, and a new tenant gets it in the move-in pack.
The same account runs the rest of the let: rent and arrears, the tenancy agreement signed online, repairs reported with photos, and your Making Tax Digital updates.
The law, read on 20 October 2026
- Gas. The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, regulation 36 (legislation.gov.uk): each gas appliance and flue is checked at intervals of not more than 12 months; a copy of the record goes to each existing tenant within 28 days of the check, and to a new tenant before they move in; the record is kept until there have been two further checks. Regulation 36A: a check made in the 2 months before the deadline is treated as made on the deadline date.
- Electrics. The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, regulation 3 (legislation.gov.uk): inspection and testing at intervals of no more than 5 years, sooner if the last report says so; a copy of the report to each existing tenant within 28 days, to a new tenant before they move in, and to the council within 7 days of a written request.
- EPC. GOV.UK, “Energy Performance Certificates”: an EPC is valid for 10 years and has to be ordered before the property is marketed to rent.
- Alarms. GOV.UK, “Renting out your property: landlord responsibilities”: landlords fit and test smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms.
Common mistakes
- Counting five years from the date of the EICR when the report recommends an earlier next inspection.
- Booking a gas check more than two months early. It is valid, but the next deadline then runs from that earlier date.
- Keeping the certificate and forgetting to give the tenant a copy within 28 days.
- Storing the files with no dates attached, so nothing can warn you.
- Re-letting without checking the EPC is still in date.
How long do landlords have to keep gas safety certificates?
Regulation 36 says until there have been two further checks, which in practice is about two years of records at any time. Keeping them longer does no harm.
Should a tenant have a copy of the gas safety certificate?
Yes: within 28 days of the check for an existing tenant, and before they move in for a new one.
How often does a rental property need an electrical certificate?
At least every five years, or sooner if the last report recommends it.
Is there a free app for landlord certificates?
LetCompliance’s free plan covers one property, with email reminders before each certificate expires. A second property, text reminders and the rest of the let come with a paid plan.
The honest limits
- LetCompliance does not send an engineer. Certificate work can be requested from the renewals list and is quoted, not booked automatically.
- A certificate uploaded on its own record has its date read for gas safety, EICR, EPC and fire risk; legionella and PAT records are read only when dropped in through the bulk upload on the renewals list. Reading has an hourly limit, after which the file is kept unread and you type the date.
- Reminders come by email, and by text on paid plans. There are no WhatsApp reminders.
- There is no lookup of the EPC register; the EPC date is the one you enter or upload.
