Compliance: how-to

Step-by-step instructions for every compliance task. For what each option means, see Compliance; for problems, see Compliance: troubleshooting.

Find your task

If you’re here because…	Go to
You’re setting up a new property’s certificates	Switch on a certificate panel, then Add a certificate
An Action says a certificate is due or has expired	Renew a certificate
A panel says “You must accept the terms and conditions before this service can be used”	Switch on a certificate panel
You want reminders earlier or later, or a maintenance issue raised for you	Change reminder settings
The property owner arranges the certificate and should be told	Alert the owner before a certificate expires
You want the same settings on every property	Copy settings to other properties
One certificate covers a whole block	Add a building-level certificate
A certificate type doesn’t apply to a property (for example, no gas supply)	Switch off a certificate panel
You uploaded the wrong file or dates	Remove a certificate
You want to see what’s expired or expiring across your portfolio	Check compliance across your portfolio
You need proof a tenant received their documents	Check what a tenant has received and acknowledged
You served a document outside COHO	Mark a document as acknowledged
Tenants record your fire alarm or smoke alarm tests	Let tenants carry out fire safety or health and safety checks
You’re about to send a contract	Check compliance documents before a contract is signed
Your HMO licence needs annual updates to the council	Set up HMO licence reminders

Switch on a certificate panel

Do this when a property’s certificate panel is missing, or shows “You must accept the terms and conditions before this service can be used”.

Before you start: you need edit permission for Compliance (Gas Safety, EPC, EICR, HMO licence, Fire Safety, Health & Safety) or for Property services (Boiler Servicing, PAT, Other Certificates, Mortgage, Building Insurance).

1. Open the property, and scroll to Services at the bottom of the page.
2. Under Inactive services, find the panel (for example Gas Safety Certificate) and click Read more.
3. Choose Manual.
4. Read the terms, and tick I agree to the terms & conditions. Tick Set as default for future properties if you want new properties to start with the same choice.
5. Set the reminder options (see Change reminder settings).
6. Click Save.

What happens next: the panel appears on the property page and in the property menu. If no certificate is on file, the panel says, for example, “You need to add a gas safety certificate”, and COHO adds an Action to your list.

Tip

If the panel is already on but asks you to accept the terms, click View on the panel and follow steps 4 to 6.

Add a certificate

Do this when you have a new certificate, report or licence to record.

Before you start: have the certificate file and its dates to hand. Each certificate needs at least one file.

1. Open the property and go to the certificate’s panel, for example Gas Safety Certificate.

2. Click New certificate (New report for an EICR, New HMO licence, New servicing record for a boiler, New test information for PAT, Add record for Fire Safety, or Add a new record for Health & Safety).

3. If the property is in a building, choose whether the certificate applies to the Property or the Building. See Add a building-level certificate.

4. Enter Valid from and Valid to. For Fire Safety, Health & Safety, PAT and boiler servicing, enter the Date completed instead; COHO works out when the next one is due from your settings.

5. Fill in any extra fields: Current score, Potential score and Rating for an EPC; HMO licence number for an HMO licence; Certificate type for Other Certificates; Record type for Fire Safety and Health & Safety; Number of devices tested for PAT.

6. Under Files, upload the certificate. Add Notes if you want (only your team sees them).

7. For Gas Safety, EPC, EICR and HMO licence, choose how tenants get it:

   • Share with tenants (available in their portal) shows it in tenants’ COHO accounts and asks them to acknowledge it;
   • Serve documents via email to all existing and future tenants also emails it to them.

   Both are ticked for a property certificate, and unticked for a building certificate.

8. Click Add.

What happens next: the panel shows the new certificate and its dates, and the previous one moves to Past certificates. Any open renewal Action for that certificate clears, usually within a few minutes. If you shared it, tenants of the property’s current and future tenancies are asked to acknowledge it, and get it by email if you chose that. Later tenants get it when they sign their contract.

Caution

You can’t change a certificate once it’s added, including whether it’s shared with tenants. Check the dates and the sharing options before you click Add. To fix a mistake, remove it and add it again.

Renew a certificate

Do this when an Action, or a panel message such as “A new gas safety certificate is due in 14 days”, tells you a certificate is due or overdue.

1. Arrange the inspection or renewal as usual.
2. When you have the new certificate, add it to the same panel.

What happens next: the renewal Action clears on its own once the new certificate is on file. If COHO created a maintenance issue for the renewal, update or close it in Maintenance; for Fire Safety, COHO closes an untouched one for you once a valid record is on file.

Note

You can’t delete a renewal Action. If the certificate genuinely doesn’t apply to the property, switch the panel off instead.

Change reminder settings

Do this when you want COHO to remind you earlier or later, or to raise a maintenance issue when a certificate is due.

Before you start: you need edit permission for the panel (Compliance, or Property services).

1. Open the property and go to the certificate’s panel.
2. Click the settings cog in the panel’s header.
3. Set How many weeks before it’s due should we remind you? For Fire Safety and Health & Safety, set the reminder for each check (Reminder, or How many weeks before it’s due should we remind you?), and how often it’s needed (Valid for, Frequency or How frequently do you want to carry out the check?).
4. Tick Create maintenance issue automatically if you want a maintenance issue raised when the reminder starts.
5. Choose where to save (see Copy settings to other properties) and click Save.

What happens next: COHO rechecks the property when you save, using the new timing. A maintenance issue is raised with the next renewal Action, not for one already open (except for EICR, where an open one is picked up too). The issue isn’t assigned to anyone, so assign a contractor in Maintenance.

Alert the owner before a certificate expires

Do this when the property owner is responsible for arranging a certificate and should hear about it from COHO.

Before you start: the panel must be on Manual, the property must be set up as managed for an owner, and the owner needs an email address in COHO. They don’t need to have joined COHO. Alert owner is available for Gas Safety, EPC, EICR and HMO licence.

1. Open the property and go to the certificate’s panel.
2. Click the settings cog.
3. Turn on Alert owner.
4. Choose How many weeks before it’s due should we remind the owner?
5. Optionally, under Template (Optional), choose or create your own email template for the owner. If you leave it blank, COHO uses its standard wording.
6. Click Save.

What happens next: when you save, COHO checks the certificate and emails the owner if it’s within the period you chose, has expired, or hasn’t been added (for example “Gas safety certificate expiring”). The owner is emailed once per certificate, not repeatedly. Owners who have joined COHO also get an Action to view each new certificate.

Copy settings to other properties

Do this when you’ve set up a panel the way you want and need the same settings elsewhere.

1. Open the panel’s settings (settings cog) on a property that’s set up correctly.
2. Tick Save for all properties, or Save for all properties in this building if the property is in a building.
3. Click Save, then confirm.

What happens next: every property (or every property in the building) gets this panel’s full settings, overwriting what was there.

Caution

This copies everything on the form, including whether the panel is Off or Manual. Saving from a property where the panel is Off switches it off everywhere, and stops reminders for every property. Check the mode before you save.

Add a building-level certificate

Do this when one certificate covers several properties in the same building, such as a communal fire alarm or a block’s gas supply.

Before you start: the properties must already be grouped into a building in COHO.

1. Open any property in the building, and go to the certificate’s panel.
2. Click New certificate (or Add record).
3. Under Certificate applies to (or Report applies to, License applies to or Record applies to), choose Building, then choose the building.
4. Fill in the dates and files, and click Add.

What happens next: the certificate appears under Building certificates (or Building records) on every property in the building.

Caution

Share with tenants and Serve documents via email… are unticked when you choose Building. Tick them if tenants should get the certificate.

Note

Health & Safety records can only be added to a single property.

Switch off a certificate panel

Do this when a certificate type doesn’t apply to a property, for example a property with no gas supply.

1. Open the property and go to the panel.
2. Click the settings cog.
3. Choose Off, and click Save (make sure Save for all properties isn’t ticked unless you mean it).

What happens next: COHO stops reminders and Actions for that certificate on that property. Certificates already added are kept; they show again if you switch the panel back on from Inactive services.

Remove a certificate

Do this when you uploaded the wrong file or entered the wrong dates.

Before you start: you need edit permission for the panel.

1. Open the property and go to the panel. For an older certificate, open Past certificates.
2. Click Remove on the certificate, then confirm.

What happens next: the certificate disappears from the panel, and COHO works out which certificate is now the latest. Tenants’ acknowledgements of the removed certificate are removed too; if you add a corrected one and share it, they’re asked to acknowledge again. The removal is recorded in the property’s history.

Check compliance across your portfolio

Do this to plan renewals, or to find properties with missing or expired certificates.

1. From your dashboard, click Menu > Compliance, then open the panel.
2. Choose a filter, for example Expiring within 30 days, Expired, Not started or Expired or not started. It starts on Expiring within 14 days.
3. Optionally choose properties, then click Filter.
4. Click a card, such as Gas Safety, to list those items. For Fire Safety, click a second card to choose the check.
5. Click a property’s name to open it. Click Export (CSV) to download the list.

Check what a tenant has received and acknowledged

Do this when you need proof that a tenant was given their certificates, or to chase one they haven’t acknowledged.

1. Open the room that the tenant rents.
2. Open its Compliance panel. It shows, for each document and tenant, when it was served or made available, and whether it’s been acknowledged.
3. Click Compliance report to download a record for the tenancy.

Mark a document as acknowledged

Do this only when you served a document outside COHO (for example by hand or post) and you have your own proof.

Before you start: you need edit permission for Compliance.

1. Open the room’s Compliance panel.
2. Find the document and tenant, and click Mark as acknowledged.
3. Read the message and click Yes.

What happens next: the document shows Acknowledged manually for that tenant.

Let tenants carry out fire safety or health and safety checks

Do this when tenants test smoke, heat or fire alarms, fire extinguishers or carbon monoxide detectors themselves.

1. Open the property’s Fire Safety (or Health & Safety) panel, and click the settings cog.
2. For the check, turn on Required?, then set how often it’s needed and the reminder.
3. Turn on Allow tenants to carry out this check?.
4. Write Guidance to housemates explaining how to do the check.
5. Choose How long after should the manager be alerted if it hasn’t been carried out by housemates?.
6. Click Save.

What happens next: when the check is due, the lead tenants of current tenancies who have joined COHO get an Action to carry it out and record it. When they submit a record, you get an Action to approve or reject it. Your own reminder Action still appears; for Health & Safety checks it waits for the number of days you chose in step 5.

Check compliance documents before a contract is signed

Do this when you’re preparing a tenancy agreement, during onboarding or for an existing tenancy.

1. Make sure the property’s Gas Safety Certificate, EPC, EICR and HMO licence (if its panel is on) are added and shared with tenants.
2. Create the contract with COHO eSignature or Wet Signature.
3. At the Additional information step, check the “Documents for [tenant] to acknowledge” for each tenant.
4. If you see “Items are missing or expired:”, add or renew those certificates on the property, shared with tenants, then check again.
5. Send the contract.

What happens next: each tenant must acknowledge every document before they can sign. You can see who has acknowledged what under Document acknowledgements when you confirm the contract, and in the room’s Compliance panel afterwards. See Onboarding.

Note

To ask tenants to acknowledge other documents, such as house rules, use Send document in the room’s Communications panel and tick Require acknowledgement from tenants.

Set up HMO licence reminders

Do this for a licensed HMO, so you remember to send the council updated documents.

1. Open the property’s HMO Licence panel and click the settings cog.
2. Turn on Remind me to update the council when there is a new Gas Safety Certificate if your licence requires it.
3. Turn on Create annual reminder actions (serving as reminder to send the council any updated documentation or to carry out any other action required) if you want a yearly reminder.
4. Click Save.

What happens next: when you add a new Gas Safety Certificate, you get an Action: “Send your updated Gas Safety Certificate to your local licencing authority”. With annual reminders on, you get an Action 2 weeks before each anniversary of the licence’s Valid from date, while the licence has more than 2 months left to run.

Note

HMO licence renewal reminders always start 4 weeks before the licence expires. There’s no setting to change this.