A report published by the Gas Safety Trust reveals that tenants living in rented accommodation are at a greater risk of CO poisoning than homeowners.

The shocking statistic was revealed in the Carbon Monoxide Trends Report, which provides a factual account of the trends relating to reportable CO incidents linked to natural gas usage in Great Britain between 1996 and 2010.

The report, which was commissioned by The Gas Safety Trust and part-funded by Local Authority Building Control (LABC), the representative body for building control teams in local authorities, revealed that the risk of CO poisoning occurring in a property with a private landlord is 50% greater than that in either an owner occupied property or one with a social sector landlord – placing those living in rented accommodation at the greatest risk of CO poisoning.


The data also demonstrated a disproportionately high risk of CO poisoning associated with terraced properties, historically more than twice as great as other dwelling types.

There of a CO incident than other types of property, possibly due to better flues and ventilation.

Paul Everall, CEO of LABC, who sponsored the report said: "Although the report shows that there is positive news in terms of the working practices of many social housing landlords, it identifies that there is still much to do within the private sector. It's important that work continues to raise the safety standards for private landlords and to reduce the CO risk to tenants."

The evidence suggests that a greater number of CO incidents have tended to involve appliances for which no service contract is in place - the most frequent cause of incidents established following investigation has been lack of servicing.

Despite significant progress being made towards bringing down the risk associated with tenants in properties with private landlords (e.g. the mandatory annual safety check on appliances), The Gas Safety Trust is calling for further action to bring this risk into line with owner occupiers and tenants in the social sector.

The report also highlights that older gas appliances pose a greater risk to CO incidents, with more than two thirds of CO incidents reported involved central heating appliances, of which 50% were older central heating boilers.

(CD/GK)