The certificates, and the month each falls due

How the round is diarised

Each certificate is entered in the diary twice. Once on the date it expires, which is the deadline, and once six weeks before, which is the date work actually starts. Six weeks is enough to arrange access with an occupier who has a working week, to let a trade come back if a remedial is found, and to issue the new copy before the old one lapses.

The run is kept sorted by expiry month rather than by property, because that is the order the year happens in. Sorted by property it reads like an asset list and tells you nothing about next month.

Each item, and the interval it runs for

• every 12 months

  Gas safety record

  Each gas appliance and the flue checked by a registered engineer, with the record issued for the property. A copy to the occupier, a copy on the file, and a copy to a new occupier at the start of a tenancy.

• every 5 years

  Electrical installation condition report

  The fixed installation inspected and tested, with any coded remedial items addressed and the confirmation filed with the report. Read every September to see which year it expires in, since five years is long enough to forget.

• every 10 years

  Energy performance certificate

  Required before a property is marketed, and kept with the file for the whole of its validity. It is also the document a prospective buyer asks for first, so it is checked when an interest goes into the sale pack.

• tested at the start, and on each visit

  Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms

  A smoke alarm on each storey, tested on the first day of a tenancy in front of the occupier, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance. Batteries are stock at the office so a test failure is fixed on the spot.

• reviewed, and on any change

  Legionella risk assessment

  An assessment of the water system, kept under review and redone where the system changes or a property stands empty long enough for the question to arise. The flushing advice goes into the tenant's note.

• where the definition is met

  Licensing

  Where a property falls within the definition of a house in multiple occupation, or within a local authority's own licensing scheme, the licence and its conditions are filed with the interest and its expiry goes in the diary like any other date.

• at the start of the tenancy

  Deposit protection and prescribed information

  The deposit protected in a scheme within the statutory period and the prescribed information served, with the dates of both on the file. March is when the whole set is read back against the agreements.

• at the start, and on renewal

  How to rent, and the furnishings

  The current guide given to the occupier with the date noted. Where a let is furnished, the upholstered items are checked for their fire safety labelling, and anything without a label is replaced rather than argued about.

Who gets a copy, and when

The occupier gets the gas safety record as soon as it is issued, and a new occupier gets the current one before they take the keys. The electrical report goes to the occupier on request and at the start of a tenancy. The energy certificate goes out with the advert. A buyer gets the whole set in the sale pack. Each sending is noted on the file with its date, because the service of a document is as much a fact as the document itself.

When a date is missed

A lapsed certificate is treated as the most urgent thing on the board until it is back in date: the renewal is booked before anything else in the week, the occupier is told why access is being asked for at short notice, and the gap is recorded on the file with its length rather than quietly closed over. Where access cannot be obtained, each attempt is logged with its date and what was offered, since the record of trying is the only thing that distinguishes a missed date from a neglected one.