What Is Included in a Standard Gas and Electricity Safety Check for Landlords?

If you own a rental property, you have probably booked a safety check without ever being entirely sure what it covers. You know it is required, you know roughly what it costs, but the actual scope of the work often stays a mystery until the report lands in your inbox. Understanding what is included in gas and electricity checks for landlords helps you know you are getting a thorough service rather than a quick tick-and-flick, and it makes the whole process feel a lot less like a black box.

Here is a breakdown of what a proper, compliant check actually involves.

The Gas Safety Check

A gas safety check is far more than a glance at the meter. Carried out to Australian Standard AS 4575, it is a genuine inspection and service of the gas system and every gas appliance on the property. A standard check includes:

Testing for gas leaks across the installation, including a pressure test of the fitting line to confirm the system holds.
Inspecting and servicing every Type A appliance, which covers cooktops, ovens, gas hot water services, space heaters and ducted gas heating units.
Checking ventilation, flues and chimneys to make sure appliances can exhaust safely and are not drawing combustion products back into the home.
Assessing appliance clearances and restraint, so appliances are correctly spaced and secured against tipping.
Testing for carbon monoxide, particularly around ducted heating, since a cracked heat exchanger can allow this invisible, odourless gas to seep into living areas.

That last point is why the check matters so much. A faulty heater can look and run perfectly normally while quietly becoming a serious hazard, and it takes proper testing to catch it.

Importantly, a rental gas check must be carried out by a gasfitter holding the specialised Type A gas appliance servicing endorsement. A general gas licence is not enough, so it is always worth confirming your provider is correctly qualified.

The Electrical Safety Check

The electrical side is equally thorough. A standard check assesses the safety of the entire electrical installation, not just the obvious fittings. It typically covers:

The switchboard, including its overall condition, wiring and whether it is set up safely for the property.
Safety switches, confirming that residual current devices are installed on all circuits, including lighting, and that they trip correctly when tested. Older boards frequently protect power circuits but not lighting, which is a common gap.
Earthing and polarity, verifying the system is correctly earthed and wired so it behaves safely under fault conditions.
Power points and light switches, testing accessible outlets and switches throughout the property for damage and correct operation.
Light fittings and visible wiring, checking for damage, deterioration or unsafe installations, including weatherproofing on any external fittings.

The goal is to confirm that if something goes wrong, the safety devices do their job and cut the power before anyone is harmed. A booking for gas and electrical safety checks for landlords in Melbourne will usually bundle both the gas and electrical assessments into a single visit, which is more convenient and better value than arranging them separately.

Smoke Alarms

While technically a separate obligation, smoke alarm checks are commonly rolled into the same visit, and many landlords prefer to keep everything on one schedule. A standard smoke alarm check confirms alarms are correctly located, clean, functioning and within their service life, and that batteries are sound. Properties built from 2014 must also have interconnected alarms where more than one is fitted, so that if one sounds, they all do.

Bundling the smoke alarm check with your gas and electrical checks keeps your compliance dates aligned and reduces call-out costs.

The Report and Your Records

A check is only as useful as the record it produces. A standard service should deliver a clear, documented report that includes the dates of the inspection, the technician's licence details, and any defects or recommendations found. Good providers deliver this as a detailed, photographic report so you can see exactly what was assessed and what, if anything, needs attention.

This documentation is not just for your peace of mind. As a rental provider you are required to disclose the date of the most recent checks before a renter signs, to include those dates in the condition report, and to produce the records if a renter requests them. A well-presented report makes meeting those obligations effortless.

What a Thorough Check Tends to Uncover

The real value of a proper check is in what it finds. In properties that look perfectly fine, standard checks routinely turn up switchboards with no safety switch on the lighting circuit, cracked power points, water-damaged external light fittings, gas leaks picked up on pressure testing, and unsecured heater flues sitting against combustible timber in the roof. None of these are visible from the living room, and all of them matter.

That is the difference between a genuine inspection and a box-ticking exercise. The scope above is what you should expect as standard, and if a quote seems unusually cheap, it is worth asking exactly which of these items it actually includes.

The Bottom Line

A standard gas and electricity check for landlords is a comprehensive service covering the full gas installation and every appliance, the entire electrical system from switchboard to power points, and usually the smoke alarms too, all documented in a report you can rely on for compliance. Knowing what is included lets you book with confidence and recognise a thorough service when you see one. If you are unsure what your property needs, it is worth taking a moment to request a quote tailored to your property so you know exactly what will be covered before the technician arrives.

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