Gas engineer in Bethnal Green, Bow and Whitechapel

Shared flats and houses are common in E1, E2 and E3. The landlord must have every gas appliance and flue they provide checked yearly and give each tenant a copy of the record within 28 days, or display it with a note of how to get a copy where HSE allows. Where one boiler serves several flats, it must be maintained and checked as well. HSE guidance also says a room converted to a bedroom since 1998 should not contain a gas fire, space heater or water heater that is not room sealed. See our guide to gas safety in a London HMO.

Most flats here have a combi boiler, often in a kitchen or hall cupboard. With hard water, the most common combi fault is poor hot water from a scaled plate heat exchanger. Thames Water's 2025 reports give Bethnal Green 276 mg/l, Whitechapel 273 mg/l, Stepney 270 mg/l, Globe Town 269 mg/l and Bow 264 mg/l on average (Thames Water, Bethnal Green zone). A yearly boiler service is the best way to catch it early.

In flats where the boiler sits away from an outside wall, the flue often runs through a ceiling void. HSE says concealed flues need inspection hatches, and an engineer who cannot inspect one will class the boiler as At Risk. In tall blocks, check with the building manager before any new flue or meter work, because external walls and shared risers may be controlled by the freeholder. Some newer blocks use communal or district heating instead of individual gas boilers, in which case the building's heat provider handles heating faults.

If you smell gas in a block, open windows, do not use light switches or anything electrical, and turn off at your flat's emergency control valve if you know where it is and it is safe. Then leave and call 0800 111 999 from outside. In some older blocks, meters sit in cupboards on the landing or in a meter room on the ground floor rather than inside the flat, so know where yours is. Cadent's emergency engineers attend in east London and make the situation safe. A Gas Safe registered engineer then repairs whatever caused the leak.