The single most common way a diligent landlord slips out of compliance is not knowing, or forgetting, how often each certificate needs renewing. Every certificate runs on a different clock, and a few of them are so infrequent you forget they exist until they lapse.
Here is exactly how often each landlord certificate needs renewing in England, and when the clock actually starts.
Gas Safety certificate (CP12): every 12 months
Annual, with no grace period. You must have every gas appliance and flue checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer every year. The moment it passes 12 months, you are non-compliant.
EICR (electrical safety): at least every 5 years
An Electrical Installation Condition Report is valid for a maximum of 5 years, or a shorter period if the inspector specifies one on the report itself. You must follow whichever is shorter.
Because five years is so long, this is the certificate landlords most often forget. If your property first needed an EICR for the 1 April 2021 deadline, a standard five-year report is expiring in 2026. Our EICR guide covers the detail.
EPC: valid for 10 years
An Energy Performance Certificate lasts 10 years from the date it is issued. That is the validity period. Separately, the minimum rating you are allowed to let at is rising to EPC C, for new tenancies from 2028 and all tenancies by 2030, which is a different clock from the ten-year validity. Do not confuse the two: your EPC can still be in date while your property no longer meets the required standard. See our EPC 2030 guide.
Smoke and CO alarms: tested each new tenancy
There is no annual certificate here. Your duty is to check every required alarm is working on the first day of each new tenancy, and to make sure alarms are present and functioning throughout. Keep a dated record of each test, that record is your evidence.
Legionella risk assessment: no fixed date, review roughly every 2 years
There is no legally fixed renewal period for a Legionella risk assessment. The duty is to keep the assessment current: review it if the water system changes, if the property is significantly altered, or periodically as good practice. Most landlords review every two years. Because there is no hard date, this is the assessment most often dropped entirely.
Deposit protection: within 30 days of each deposit
Not a renewal so much as a hard, recurring deadline. Every time you take a deposit, you must protect it in a government-approved scheme and give the tenant the Prescribed Information within 30 days. A new deposit means a new 30-day clock.
At a glance
| Certificate | How often | When the clock starts |
|---|---|---|
| Gas Safety (CP12) | Every 12 months | Date of each annual check |
| EICR | Every 5 years (or sooner if stated) | Date the report is issued |
| EPC | Every 10 years | Date the EPC is issued |
| Smoke & CO alarms | Test each new tenancy | First day of each tenancy |
| Legionella review | Around every 2 years | Last assessment or system change |
| Deposit protection | Within 30 days of each deposit | Date you receive the deposit |
Work out the exact renewal and book-by dates for your own certificates with our free certificate renewal calculator, or see the full picture in the UK landlord compliance checklist. To stop tracking these dates by hand, read how to track landlord certificates without missing a renewal.
Written by The PropCert team
PropCert builds certificate tracking for UK landlords. Every guide is checked against the primary source, gov.uk, HSE, or the legislation itself.
This guide is general information about landlord obligations in England, not legal advice. Where a decision turns on your specific circumstances, check the primary source or take advice.