Certificates a landlord must give a tenant, and when
Holding a valid certificate and handing a tenant their copy are two separate duties in England, on two separate clocks. Here is which certificates a landlord must give a tenant, and the deadline for each.
Last reviewed 10 August 2026 · England
Most self-managing landlords in England get the certificates themselves right: the gas engineer books the annual check, the electrician renews the EICR, the EPC sits in a folder somewhere. Where the gap opens is the second, quieter duty, the one that says the certificate has to reach the tenant, on a deadline of its own, separate from whether the certificate itself is in date.
It is one of the certificates covered in the wider checklist, but the handover rule rarely gets a mention on its own, which is exactly why it catches landlords who have otherwise done everything right.
The three deadlines
Gas, electrical and energy certificates each carry their own rule for when a tenant has to see them, and the trigger differs by certificate: moving in, a written request, or a viewing.
| Certificate | When it must reach the tenant |
|---|---|
| Gas Safety Record (CP12) | Before a new tenant moves in. Existing tenant: within 28 days of the check. |
| EICR | Before a new tenant moves in. Prospective tenant: within 28 days of a written request. |
| EPC | Free, at the point the property is marketed, before a viewing takes place. |
Gas: before the key turns, not after
A new tenant must have a copy of the current Gas Safety Record before they move in, not within a grace period afterwards. An existing tenant is owed a copy within 28 days of each annual check. A landlord who keeps the certificate current but only produces it when asked has still missed the duty, because the regulation sets a deadline for handing it over, not just for having it.
EICR: before move-in, and within 28 days of a request
The EICR follows the same before-occupation rule for a new tenant. A prospective tenant who asks for a copy in writing, before a tenancy even starts, is owed it within 28 days. That request-based deadline is the one landlords hear about least, and it applies whether or not a viewing has taken place yet.
The report is one of the certificates with a five-year clock of its own, which is a separate deadline from the handover rule covered here. A landlord can hold a perfectly valid, in-date EICR and still be in breach for never sending the tenant a copy.
EPC: before the viewing, not after the tenancy starts
An EPC has to be made available free of charge at the point a property is marketed, and in practice that means before a prospective tenant views it. Handing it over once a tenancy agreement is signed is well past the deadline the regulations set.
Why the handover date matters as much as the renewal date
A council or tribunal weighing a case does not just ask whether a certificate existed. It asks whether the tenant actually had it, and when. That is the same evidence a reasonable steps defence depends on: a dated record of what was sent, not a certificate sitting unseen in a landlord’s own file. A landlord who can show the date a copy was sent is in a materially stronger position than one who can only say the certificate existed somewhere.
What to do now
- Check when each current certificate was actually sent to the tenant, not just when it was issued.
- For a new letting, send the Gas Safety Record and EICR before the tenant moves in, and make the EPC available before the first viewing.
- Keep a dated record of when each copy was sent. CertSorted logs every certificate and every send on one file, so the date is never a matter of memory.
This applies to rental properties in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run separate rules for what a landlord must give a tenant and by when.