Gas, EICR and EPC reminder texts for letting agents

Every rented home in England runs on three clocks. The gas safety check is due every 12 months, the electrical inspection at least every 5 years, and the Energy Performance Certificate lasts 10. A letting agent with a few hundred managed properties has a few hundred of each, all on different dates, and the penalty for missing one lands on the landlord. Gas, EICR and EPC reminder texts are a simple way to make sure the landlord, the tenant and the engineer all hear about a date before it passes.

The English Housing Survey counted 4.9 million privately rented homes in England in 2024, 19% of the stock, and 4.7 million private renting households in 2024 to 2025. This post goes through what each rule requires, what landlords say they do, and the texts that keep the dates from slipping. For the wider changes under the Renters' Rights Act, see our post on texting tenants under the Renters' Rights Act.

The three dates, and what each rule says

Gas comes first because its clock is shortest. Regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 requires a landlord to make sure each gas appliance and flue it provides is checked "within 12 months of being installed and at intervals of not more than 12 months since it was last checked". A copy of the record goes to each existing tenant "within 28 days of the date of the check", and to a new tenant before they move in. HSE says landlords must keep the record for at least two years. Regulation 36A, added in 2018, lets a check done in the 2 months before the deadline count as done on the deadline, so booking early within that window doesn't move next year's date forward.

Electrics are next. The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 require every electrical installation to be inspected and tested "at intervals of no more than 5 years", or by an earlier date if the last report sets one. The report (usually an Electrical Installation Condition Report, or EICR) gives "the date by which the next inspection and test is required", and a copy goes to each existing tenant within 28 days. If the report calls for remedial or further investigative work, MHCLG's guidance says it must be done within 28 days or any shorter period the report sets, and confirmation goes to the tenant and the council within 28 days of finishing. Councils can impose a financial penalty of up to £40,000 for a breach. The rules now cover social landlords too: tenancies granted after 1 December 2025 straight away, and older ones from 1 May 2026.

EPCs move slowest. GOV.UK says an EPC rates a property "from A (best) to G (worst) and is valid for 10 years", and if it has expired "you'll need a new one before you get your property ready to sell or rent". Since 1 April 2020, under the minimum energy efficiency standard, landlords "can no longer let or continue to let" a covered property rated below E unless a valid exemption is registered, and the main exemptions last 5 years. That gives an agent a fourth date to watch on any F or G property.

The alarm rules add a check on day one. Since 1 October 2022 landlords in England must have a smoke alarm on each storey with living accommodation and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance (gas cookers excepted), and must check each alarm "is in proper working order on the day the tenancy begins".

What landlords say they do

The English Private Landlord Survey 2024, published by MHCLG in December 2024, asked over 9,000 landlords and agents registered with a tenancy deposit scheme what they did for their most recent letting. The answers are self-reported, and the table puts every requirement against the same base of all landlords, but the gaps are worth a look.

Almost everyone (99.0%) said they made sure there was a working smoke alarm on each floor, and 93.8% said they'd had the wiring checked by a qualified tester. The gas rows come lower: 83.8% said they'd had an annual gas inspection done by a qualified inspector, and 81.6% that they'd given the tenant a copy of the gas safety certificate. Some of that gap will be landlords with no gas at all, since the survey asks everyone, and the table can't say how much. A certificate that's been done but not handed over is the easiest failure to fix with a text.

The EPC picture has improved a lot over ten years. The survey's own inspections put 48.0% of private rented homes in band C in 2024, against 23.8% in 2014, and the share in F or G fell from 7.5% to 2.9%. That 2.9% is roughly 142,000 homes on the survey's figures, and each one needs either work or a registered exemption before it can be let.

The figure to watch is band D, 37.3% of private rented homes. The government has consulted on raising the minimum to EPC C or equivalent by 2030, according to MHCLG's Renters' Rights Act roadmap, so an agent's list of D-rated properties is the list for that conversation with landlords.

The PRS Database will ask for the dates

The roadmap, published on 13 November 2025, says the private rented sector database will be rolled out "from late 2026", that signing up will be mandatory for all private landlords, and that it expects landlords to supply "safety information" for each property, naming gas, electrical and Energy Performance Certificates. The roadmap says the database is meant to inform tenants' choices and help councils target enforcement, so a lapsed certificate will matter to more people than the agent. An agent who already keeps every date in one place will have that part ready.

The texts, and who gets which

Written for a fictional agent, Harcourt Lettings. There are three audiences, and they need different messages.

The landlord gets the first warning. For a fully managed property, arranging the check is part of the service the landlord pays for, so this is an administrative message:

Harcourt Lettings: the gas safety check at 22 Bank Street is due by 18 Jan. We'll book it from 18 Nov so next year's date stays the same. Reply OK to go ahead or call us.

For a let-only landlord, an offer to arrange the check for a fee promotes your service, which the ICO says is "likely to be direct marketing". A landlord who has used your letting service and was given the chance to opt out falls under the soft opt-in, and every text needs an opt-out:

Harcourt Lettings: your EICR at 7 Albert Road runs out on 30 Mar. We can arrange a qualified electrician and send the report to your tenant. Reply YES for a price. Reply STOP to opt out

The tenant gets the appointment. HSE says a tenancy agreement should allow access for safety checks but "you must not use force to enter", and it expects a landlord who can't get in to show repeated attempts, keeping "a record of all correspondence with the tenants". A text with a reply in the same thread is a good start on that record:

Harcourt Lettings: your yearly gas safety check is booked for Tue 24 Nov, 08:00 to 12:00. The engineer will need to see the boiler and hob. Reply YES to confirm or suggest another day.

If there's no reply, a second text two days later, and a third after that, each one logged with its delivery report. After the visit, the copy:

Harcourt Lettings: the gas safety record for 22 Bank Street from your check on 24 Nov is in your email. Reply if you'd like a paper copy.

HSE says tenants can be given their copy electronically if they're happy to receive it that way, but must get a paper copy if they ask, which is why the text offers one. Sending the record by email and the text as a pointer keeps the 28-day deadline met with a dated trail.

The engineer or electrician gets the job details, which is a staff or contractor text and needs nothing more than the address, the access arrangements and a contact.

Setting the reminders up

The dates live in the agent's property management software or a spreadsheet, and the texts need to go out a set time before each one: about ten weeks before a gas deadline (so the booking falls inside the two-month window), three months before an EICR, and before any re-let for an EPC. On CaptiFi Connect a single text can be scheduled up to a year ahead, which covers the gas reminder from the day the last check comes in. An EICR or EPC due in four years is too far out for that, so the better pattern is a daily job that reads the dates, finds anything entering its reminder window, and sends.

For that job, the API detail that matters is the Idempotency-Key header on POST /messages. Build it from the property, the certificate and the due date ("22-bank-street-gas-2027-01-18"), and if the job runs twice or retries after a timeout, the landlord still gets one text. Our post on sending a text exactly once goes into why. Put the property reference in client_ref and it comes back in the webhooks, so a delivery failure or a tenant's reply can be matched to the right property without looking up the number.

Tenant replies come into a two-way inbox shared by the team, so "can they come after 2?" reaches whoever is booking engineers that day. Campaign quiet hours (21:00 to 09:00 London time by default) hold list sends overnight, and one-off texts about a booking go when you send them. Each text has a delivery report, which helps show the "repeated attempts" HSE looks for when a tenant goes quiet. Heating engineers who do the checks have their own side of this, covered in our post on boiler service reminder texts.

Common questions

How often does a rented property need a gas safety check?

Every gas appliance and flue a landlord provides must be safety checked at intervals of not more than 12 months, by a Gas Safe registered engineer. A check done in the two months before the deadline counts as done on the deadline, so the date doesn't move. Existing tenants must get a copy of the record within 28 days.

How often does a rented home need an EICR?

The Electrical Safety Standards Regulations 2020 require the electrical installation to be inspected and tested at least every 5 years, or sooner if the last report gives an earlier date. Tenants get a copy within 28 days, and any remedial work must be done within 28 days or the shorter period the report sets.

How long is an EPC valid for a rented property?

An EPC is valid for 10 years. If it has expired you need a new one before the property is marketed for rent, and since 1 April 2020 a covered private rented property in England can't be let below band E without a registered exemption.

Can a letting agent text tenants about safety check appointments?

Yes. A text arranging access for a gas, electrical or alarm check is a service message about the tenancy, so it doesn't need marketing consent or an opt-out line. Keep the replies and delivery reports, because they show the landlord tried to get access.