Changes to warrants for gas safety inspections - what local authorities need to know

The Justices’ Clerks’ Society, now known as the Justices’ Legal Advisers and Court Officers’ Service, has recently announced that it will no longer accept applications for warrants of entry to inspect gas appliances under Schedule 3 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (“EPA”).

Local authorities have been applying for EPA Schedule 3 warrants to gain entry and inspect gas appliances in council properties for many years. An issue was raised by a local government lawyer, prompting a review that concluded such warrants are not legally justified. Local authorities are legally required to carry out annual gas safety inspections, but some tenants refuse access, creating potential health and safety risks. The argument for using EPA warrants is that a poorly maintained gas appliance could amount to a statutory nuisance.

Schedule 3 of the EPA allows authorised local authority officers to:

• enter premises to determine whether a statutory nuisance exists;
• take action authorised under Part III of the EPA.
• apply for a warrant where access has been refused.

However, the actions under Part III EPA are primarily:

• to investigate nuisances; 
• to serve abatement notices; and
• to prosecute breaches of abatement notices.

A local authority cannot serve an abatement notice on itself, so warrants cannot be justified on the basis of taking action under Part III. The only possible ground for a warrant would therefore be to establish whether a statutory nuisance exists. This is problematic because the inspection powers in Part III are intended to support the statutory nuisance regime, particularly the issuing of abatement notices. Since a local authority could not issue an abatement notice against itself, the inspection would not be serving the purpose envisaged by the legislation.

Statutory powers, especially warrant powers that authorise entry into premises, must be used strictly for the purpose parliament intended and not for an alternative objective. In these cases, the real purpose of entry is known to be inspection of the boiler/gas appliance, not enforcement of a statutory nuisance through an abatement notice. This would therefore be considered an abuse of process.

There is also a factual concern that failure to inspect a gas appliance does not, by itself, provide reasonable grounds to suspect a statutory nuisance exists. While an uninspected appliance could potentially become a nuisance, the mere fact that it has not been inspected for a year is unlikely to justify a reasonable belief that it actually constitutes a statutory nuisance.

The conclusion is that EPA Schedule 3 warrants should not be used by local authorities to gain access for routine gas safety inspections, as both the legal basis and evidential justification are considered insufficient.

Where does this leave local authorities?

Basically, in the same position as Registered Providers of Housing (RPs). RPs have for many years used the civil courts in order to gain access for gas inspections. The applications are for injunctions for specific performance of the terms in the tenancy agreement following the tenant’s failure to provide access following a request for access by the landlord.

The process is more expensive than applying for a warrant as an injunction can only be obtained for one property per application. If the tenant doesn’t facilitate access after the granting of an injunction the tenant becomes a ‘disobedient party’ at which point the court has the power to grant an order allowing the landlord to force access. The recently decided case of Stonewater v Harris [2026] EWCC 42, a matter dealt with by Bevan Brittan on behalf of Stonewater, confirms this position.

At Bevan Brittan we have developed a technological based solution to support our clients to deal with these high volumes of applications and our letters before action have a success rate of circa 70%. We offer these letters to our clients at very reduced rates.

Should you require any support on gaining access to your properties please contact John Cox, Neil Brand or Conor Turley.

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