Plumbers looking to market their certification service should remind landlords of the penalties for failing to provide gas safety check records after court hands out £11,500 fine.

A Portsmouth landlord has been fined £11,500 and ordered to pay costs of £4,500 for endangering lives after consistently failing to provide safety records for gas appliances at a property he rented out to a family.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Peter Brown for breaching two counts of the Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regulations 1998, and one count of failing to comply with the requirements of an Improvement Notice served on him in August 2010.

Portsmouth Magistrates' Court heard that Brown, of Waterlooville in Hampshire, let a property in Portsmouth. The council requested a copy of the landlord's annual Gas Safety Check Record, which he had failed to provide for over two years.

At this stage the HSE was informed to ensure his compliance with Gas Safety Legislation. Brown pleaded guilty to three charges relating to his safety breaches.

HSE inspector Dozie Azubike said: "It is potentially an imprisonable offence to neglect gas safety and this should serve as a warning to other landlords. Every year approximately 20 people die and many others suffer ill health from carbon monoxide poisoning."