Gas and heating safety in your council home

You can normally smell gas if there’s a leak. 

If you think there’s a leak, you should:

• open all your doors and windows
• put out any naked flames - like a candle - and do not smoke
• shut off the gas at the main supply if it’s safe to
• leave any electrical switches or appliances alone - do not touch them
• go outside and call the national gas emergency number on 0800 111 9999 

Do not go back inside or turn the gas on unless you’ve been told it’s safe by a gas engineer.

You should then let us know about the leak.

Boiler service

All gas boilers in your home must be serviced once a year.  

Swale Heating will arrange an appointment for you, but if you need to rearrange it or you need an engineer visit because of a boiler breakdown, you can register for an account on their customer portal and book an appointment online. Make sure you register with your primary tenancy details. You can also call them directly on 0800 987 4033.

If you have a pre-paid meter, please make sure there is credit on it when your service is due.

They will give you a copy of the service report after the visit, and we keep a copy as well.

Alternative fuel appliances check

If your home uses alternative fuel - for example oil, a wood burner, a heat pump or storage heaters -  they will still need a yearly check and the relevant company will arrange that for you.

Find out more about our gas safety responsibilities

If you don't have your appliances checked

It's very important you allow access to your home for our contractors to carry out the checks needed. 

If they cannot access your property three times, we might pass your case to our Legal team who will arrange a court order to get access.

Carbon monoxide has no smell and cannot be seen.

We give you carbon monoxide detectors for every room that has a gas appliance. If there’s a leak, the alarm will beep. 

Swale Heating will check the expiry date of your carbon monoxide alarms and make sure they are in working order when they service your boiler.

Other ways to spot a carbon monoxide leak 

The flame in your gas appliance might be yellow instead of blue. There might be sooty stains around the appliance or nearby. You or people you live with might have flu-like symptoms - headaches, dizziness, drowsiness - but no temperature.

If you think there's a leak, go outside straight away and call the national gas emergency number on 0800 111 9999. 

To keep safe you should:

• always follow the operating instructions for your gas appliances
• make sure you know how and where to turn off your gas supply
• never install a new appliance yourself, this must be done by a gas safe registered engineer - if you want to install a gas fire in your home you need to ask us first
• never use an appliance if you don't think it's working properly
• never cover an appliance or block air vents or outside flues