The Department for the Economy has made the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026, S.R. 2026 No. 178. Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland said on 13 October 2026 that the rule amends the 2004 Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations and will take effect on 30 November 2026. HSENI’s consultation material said the package was intended to bring Northern Ireland into line with changes already introduced in Great Britain. (hseni.gov.uk)
For landlords, the main operational change is the new timing rule around annual gas safety checks. Under the inserted regulation 36A, a check completed within the two months before the deadline is treated as having been completed on the deadline date, so the next due date does not keep moving earlier each year. The same provision also allows a landlord, once only for each appliance or flue and only to align dates within the same premises, to carry out the next check within the two months after the deadline instead. In practice, that is a narrow scheduling adjustment rather than a relaxation of the annual duty itself. (consultations.nidirect.gov.uk)
The record-keeping rule is also redrafted. Instead of retaining a landlord gas safety record for a fixed two years in every case, the new wording requires the record to be kept until two further checks have been completed for that appliance or flue, or for two years from the last check where the appliance or flue has been removed from the premises. The immediate effect is to confine the statutory record to safety defects, rather than every defect a contractor may record during a visit. (consultations.nidirect.gov.uk)
A second change affects post-work appliance checks by gas engineers. Where it is not reasonably practicable to examine operating pressure or heat input after work on an appliance, the amended rule requires an examination of combustion performance instead, so the appliance can still be assessed for safe operation. HSENI said this writes an existing exemption into the regulations and extends the framework to cases where the prescribed tests cannot reasonably be completed. (consultations.nidirect.gov.uk)
The amendment also carves out a defined category of downstream gas compression installations from the 2004 regime. The exclusion applies where the system sits downstream of an isolation valve, is used exclusively for gas compression, is mainly supplying compressed gas to vehicles, and includes at least one compressor above 5 kilowatts. HSENI’s consultation described this as a disapplication for compressed natural gas filling stations fed by a dedicated metered supply, while Great Britain guidance says such sites are exempt from most of the gas installation rules and are placed on the same footing as other industrial premises. (consultations.nidirect.gov.uk)
The route to the instrument is also relevant. HSENI opened consultation on 2 December 2025 and closed it on 10 February 2026, stating that the proposed amendments were intended to mirror the changes already made in Great Britain. The Northern Ireland Assembly’s Committee for the Economy later considered the proposed statutory rule and, on 23 September 2026, agreed that it was content for the Department to make the rule. (hseni.gov.uk)
For landlords, housing associations, letting agents and contractors, the immediate task is administrative rather than strategic. Compliance calendars, certificate templates and document retention settings now need to reflect the new deadline mechanics and the revised wording on safety defects, while gas engineers should ensure their testing procedures capture the combustion-performance alternative where pressure or heat-input checks are not reasonably practicable. The wider policy position is unchanged: Northern Ireland is updating the detail of its 2004 gas safety regime to match a model Great Britain has operated since 6 April 2018, while leaving the core safety duties in place. (consultations.nidirect.gov.uk)