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legal position advice

Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:08pm
5 replies86 views3 members subscribed
peter087

Posts: 7

Location: Torrevieja

Joined: 6 Jun 2019

Can anyone tell me the legal position on this: when you purchase an apartment is the seller/ agent legally obliged to supply you with a gas safety certificate for the existing appliances. In this case a water heater and a cooker 

Kimmy11

Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2019 7:47pm

Kimmy11

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Posts: 6869

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Joined: 8 Aug 2017

Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2019 7:47pm

Hi Peter,

By law (Royal Decree 984/2015 of October 30), installed gas appliances, e.g. fires, cookers, hobs, etc. have to be checked and certified safe for use every 5 years, so any seller should be able to provide you with copies of their latest certificates.  Of course, if they are 4 years old, you'll have to have them retested after another year. 

When we bought our property a little over 3 years ago, the safety certificate for our gas fire was included in the Escritura (Deed) pack, along with things like the Energy Performance Certificate, receipts to show that the electricity and water supply bills had been paid, etc.

Kind regards,

Kim

MeathMaria

Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:44pm

MeathMaria

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Posts: 599

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Location: Alicante City

Joined: 9 Jun 2019

Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:44pm

Hello Kim,

Thank you for the useful information.  Didn’t know this was law but wondered about how often the gas water heater should be serviced as it’s not a method we’ve used before. 

Hopefully you are getting your home back to normal and getting over the shock you’ve had.   😊

Best wishes

Maria

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Kimmy11

Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2019 9:06pm

Kimmy11

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Posts: 6869

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Joined: 8 Aug 2017

Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2019 9:06pm

Hi Maria,

Thanks for asking.  Urgent repairs and most of clean up now done, although we're working our way around the gravelled areas in slower time. 

Coincidentally, the one thing I have yet to organise is an inspection of our gas fire - recertification isn't due for another year, but during the Gota Fria, water come down our chimney and leaked out of one side of the fire onto the floor - so I think it's best to have the fire checked before winter sets in and we want to use it!  :o)

Kind regards,

Kim

peter087

Posted: Tue Oct 1, 2019 12:26pm

peter087

Original Poster

Posts: 7

Location: Torrevieja

Joined: 6 Jun 2019

Posted: Tue Oct 1, 2019 12:26pm

Thanks for info does this apply to all gas appliances or only natural gas appliances. My water heater and cooker run on bottled gas and agent tells me this registration does not apply to them

Kimmy11

Posted: Tue Oct 1, 2019 2:56pm

Kimmy11

Legendary helpful member

Posts: 6869

12554 helpful points

Joined: 8 Aug 2017

Posted: Tue Oct 1, 2019 2:56pm

Hi Peter,

Your agent is wrong.  The only appliances that the certification does not apply to is free-standing appliances that use a direct connection to one gas bottle of less than 15kg, such as portable heaters. 

All "installed" appliances, e.g. gas fires, water heaters, cookers, etc., whether run on natural gas or bottled gas, must be certified on installation and re-certified every 5 years.  To have any of these appliances fitted in your home, where there is no natural gas supply, you would need a bottled gas contract with a supplier such as Repsol or Cepsa.  Before this contract is approved, the supplier will require a safety inspection, when it will check the property where the gas appliance is to be used.  Re-certification should then be arranged through the bottled gas supplier. 

As you say the property you're interested in buying has a bottled gas cooker and water heater, it would have been a legal requirement to have the original installations certified and a legal requirement for those certifications to have been renewed every 5 years.  Some companies will send letters, reminding owners that recertification is due; if that hasn't happened, perhaps the owner has forgotten, or maybe, lost their last certificates?

Kind regards,

Kim

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