Property licensing in Newham and Waltham Forest: where the gas record fits

Two east London councils sit at the centre of London’s landlord licensing story. Newham was the first council to introduce borough wide licensing of private rented homes, and Waltham Forest started a new scheme in May 2025. If you let property in Stratford, Forest Gate, Walthamstow or Leyton, this guide explains where your gas safety record fits in.

Why these two boroughs matter

Both boroughs have a lot of private renting. At the 2021 Census, 38.5% of Newham households rented privately, the highest share of any borough covered on this site. Waltham Forest was at 27.8%. England as a whole was 20.5% (ONS, Newham; ONS, Waltham Forest).

That is the reason both councils license landlords. It is also why so much gas work in these areas is landlord safety checks.

Newham: selective licensing

Newham Council says all privately rented properties within a selective licensing zone must be licensed, regardless of how they are occupied or how big they are, and that landlords without a licence may face action (Newham Council). The current scheme came into force on 1 June 2023 and is Newham’s third five year term (London Property Licensing). Larger shared houses fall under HMO licensing instead.

Check the current zones and conditions on the council site before you apply, as they can change.

Waltham Forest: the 2025 to 2030 scheme

Waltham Forest Council launched a selective licensing scheme in May 2025 that runs until 30 April 2030. It applies to privately rented homes let to an individual, a single family or two unrelated sharers. Licences can be granted for up to five years. The scheme covers every ward apart from Hatch Lane, Highams Park North and Endlebury, where homes let to three or more unrelated tenants need an HMO licence (Waltham Forest Council). The council publishes its licence conditions as a PDF, and landlords should read them in full.

How the gas record fits

Question	Gas law	Licensing
Who sets the rule	Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, enforced by HSE	The local council
What it requires	Annual check of appliances and flues you provide, by a Gas Safe registered engineer	A licence for the property, with conditions
Paperwork	Gas safety record, copies to tenants, kept 2 years	Application documents and ongoing compliance
Where gas comes in	The record itself	A mandatory licence condition to produce a gas safety certificate to the council each year

Licensing does not change what the gas check involves. It adds a second party, the council. Under Schedule 4 of the Housing Act 2004, every HMO licence and every selective licence must include a condition that, if gas is supplied to the house, the licence holder produces to the council each year a gas safety certificate obtained within the last 12 months. So an out of date record is both a gas law problem and a licence problem. Set a reminder for the check, and another for sending the record to the council if your licence asks for it on a set date.

Stratford and the heat network question

Stratford has a twist. Many newer blocks on and around Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, including East Village, take their heating and hot water from the East London Energy heat network rather than individual gas boilers (Energy UK case study). A flat with no gas appliances does not need an annual gas safety check. HSE says any gas pipework or flue that passes through still has to be maintained, but without appliances there is no check to record (HSE).

The older streets of Stratford, Forest Gate and West Ham are a different picture: Victorian terraces with gas boilers, gas hobs and sometimes old gas fires. Those need the full annual check. Read more on our Stratford area page.

Getting your gas paperwork licence ready

A short checklist for Newham and Waltham Forest landlords:

1. Keep the latest gas safety record and the one before it, as PDFs and on paper.
2. Make sure the record names every gas appliance in the property, including any gas fire.
3. Check the record shows the engineer’s Gas Safe registration number. You can confirm it on the Gas Safe Register.
4. Keep proof you gave tenants their copy within 28 days, and before new tenants moved in.
5. Add any repair work to the record when faults were found.
6. Fit and test carbon monoxide alarms in rooms with a boiler or gas fire, as required since 1 October 2022 (GOV.UK).

Shared houses and HMOs

If you let to three or more unrelated people, HMO licensing usually applies. The gas rules are the same but the practical detail is different: communal boilers, tenant owned heaters, and the rule about gas fires in rooms converted to bedrooms since 1998. Our HMO gas safety guide covers those.

Booking your check

London Gas Engineers carries out landlord gas safety certificates in Newham, Waltham Forest and across north and east London. The engineer doing the check must be Gas Safe registered, and you are entitled to see their ID card before they start. Check the back of the card lists each appliance type in the property.