Bolton at Home have been critised by the  for failing to carry out gas safety checks on 160 properties.

In a regulatory notice published today, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) said 18,000-home Bolton at Home breached the regulator’s ‘serious detriment’ threshold for intervening on tenant-related cases.

In mid-October, Bolton at Home contacted the regulator to say it had found 160 of its properties to be without a valid gas safety certificate, because more than a year had elapsed since the last check. Landlords are required by law to carry out annual gas safety checks.

According to Inside Housing:

“In some cases the certificates had been expired for a number of years,” the HCA notice said. “The breach exposed a number of tenants to the potential of serious harm for lengthy periods.”

The landlord breached the regulator’s Home Standard and as a consequence there was the potential for serious detriment to Bolton at Home’s tenants.

The regulator will consider whether this case raises concerns about Bolton at Home’s governance.”