Gas Safety Certificates and Section 21 Notices: Important New Update for Landlords

Following on from my previous blog on the importance of Gas Safety Certificate compliance when serving a Section 21 notice, this update looks at a new case that may change how strictly the courts interpret those rules.

To recap, Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 is one of the main routes landlords use to regain possession of a property let on an assured shorthold tenancy. This process allows landlords to recover possession without having to prove any wrongdoing by the tenant.

However, for a Section 21 notice to be valid, landlords must comply with a number of strict requirements, one of the most important being the provision of a Gas Safety Certificate.

Failure to meet these requirements can make a Section 21 notice invalid, which can delay or even prevent landlords from recovering possession.

A Gas Safety Certificate (GSC) is issued by a Gas Safe registered engineer after inspecting the gas appliances, pipework, and flues in a rental property. It confirms that the property’s gas installations are safe and meet the legal standards under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.

Landlords must arrange annual gas safety checks, give a copy of the current GSC to existing tenants within 28 days of the check and provide new tenants with a valid GSC before they move in. If these steps aren’t followed, a landlord could lose the right to use Section 21.

Until recently, the key case was Trecarrell House Ltd v Rouncefield (2020). In this case, the Court of Appeal held that a landlord could still serve a valid Section 21 notice even if the gas safety certificate was served late so long as it existed before the tenancy started and was given to the tenant before service of the Section 21 notice itself.

However, Trecarrell also made clear that if no GSC existed at the start of the tenancy, the landlord could never fix that mistake later. This meant that many landlords who had missed that early step were permanently prevented from using Section 21 to recover possession of their property.

Cassell & Cassell v Sidhu & Sidhu

A recent county court appeal decision in Cassell & Cassell v Sidhu & Sidhu handed down on 9 October 2025 has now challenged the previous strict approach and provided an opportunity for some relief for landlords.

In this case, the judge held that the failure to provide an initial GSC before the tenancy began could be remedied. The reasoning was based on how long landlords are required to retain gas safety record and make them available to tenants under the Regulations, which is until two further checks of the appliance have been made.

In practice, this would mean that a landlord who failed to undertake a gas safety inspection prior to the tenant’s initial occupation of the property may serve a valid Section 21 notice provided that the landlord did carry out (compliant) gas safety inspections in each of the two years preceding the notice. This is a stark contrast to the previous position.

While this ruling may benefit landlords who do not hold pre-tenancy GSC seeking to evict their tenants, it does not take away from the importance of conducting annual gas safety inspections of rented in order to stay compliant with the obligations of a landlord.

However, following the Renters Reform Act 2025 being passed in England and Wales, it is likely that none of these matters will be relevant when the Section 21 route is abolished altogether.

Understand how this important update could impact your ability to serve a valid Section 21 notice. Stay ahead of the latest legal developments and ensure your property remains compliant. Contact our property disputes experts on 0330 822 3451 for tailored advice and support or request a callback.