It's 4:45pm on Friday. You get an email from a landlord: "Can you send me the gas safety certificate for 12 Oak Street? The tenant is asking for it."
You know you have it. Somewhere. You search your email. Check the property folder on your desktop. Look through Google Drive. Finally find it—attached to an email from 8 months ago. 15 minutes wasted on something that should take 30 seconds.
Now imagine this: You type "12 Oak" into LetAdmin, click the property, and see all certificates displayed with expiry dates. Gas safety cert expiring in 3 months—highlighted in yellow. One click downloads the PDF. 30 seconds total.
This week, we refined LetAdmin's certificate management system based on real-world usage from our own agency. This article explains why certificate tracking is critical for letting agents, what we improved, and how it helps you stay compliant without the stress.
Why Certificate Management Matters for Letting Agents
Compliance isn't optional. Every letting agent in the UK must ensure:
- Gas Safety Certificates: Annual checks for all properties with gas appliances
- Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICR): Every 5 years minimum (or 3 years for HMOs)
- Energy Performance Certificates (EPC): Valid EPC with rating E or above
- HMO Licenses: For properties requiring licensing in your local authority area
The consequences of non-compliance are serious:
- Fines up to £30,000 for missing gas safety certificates
- Inability to serve Section 21 notices without valid EPCs and gas safety certs
- Reputational damage if tenants report compliance failures
- Legal liability if safety issues arise from expired certificates
Most letting agents manage this using a combination of:
- Spreadsheets tracking expiry dates
- Email folders storing PDF certificates
- Calendar reminders for renewals
- Manual checking and chasing contractors
It works, but it's fragile. Miss one calendar reminder, forget to update the spreadsheet, or lose an email, and you're non-compliant without knowing it.
What LetAdmin's Certificate Management Does
We built certificate tracking into LetAdmin because we needed it ourselves at Phillip James. Managing 370+ properties means tracking 1,100+ certificates at any given time. Spreadsheets weren't cutting it.
Here's what the system does:
1. Centralized Certificate Storage
Every certificate for every property is stored in one place. Click any property, see all its certificates:
- Gas Safety Certificate (expires: 12 Mar 2026)
- EICR (expires: 08 Jan 2028)
- EPC - Rating C (expires: 15 Apr 2033)
- HMO License (expires: 22 Dec 2025)
Each certificate shows:
- Expiry date (color-coded: green = active, yellow = expiring soon, red = expired)
- Certificate type (gas safety, EICR, EPC, etc.)
- Attached documents (PDFs uploaded and stored securely)
- Issue date and who uploaded it
2. Automatic Expiry Alerts
The system highlights expiring certificates automatically:
- Expiring Soon (within 90 days): Yellow warning
- Expired: Red alert
- Active: Green confirmation
No more manual spreadsheet updates or calendar reminders. The software knows what's expiring and shows it to you every time you view the property.
3. Fast Certificate Access
When a landlord or tenant asks for a certificate:
- Type the property address in search
- Click the property
- Click the certificate to download the PDF
30 seconds total, not 15 minutes hunting through emails.
4. Portfolio-Wide Compliance View
Beyond individual properties, you can view:
- All expiring certificates across your entire portfolio
- Properties missing required certificates
- Certificates grouped by type (all gas safety, all EICRs, etc.)
- Sort by expiry date to prioritize renewals
This makes monthly compliance checks simple: open the "Expiring Soon" filter, book renewals for the highlighted properties, job done.
What We Improved This Week
Real-world usage at Phillip James revealed some rough edges. We polished the system based on what actually slowed us down:
Faster certificate viewing: Previously, viewing a certificate required clicking twice (once to open a modal, once to download). Now one click opens the PDF directly. Small change, big time saving when you're doing this 20+ times per day.
Better sorting: Certificates now sort by expiry date (newest first), which is what you actually care about. Previously they sorted oldest first, which meant scrolling to find current certificates.
Consistent pagination: All certificate lists now use the same navigation style with numbered pages. Makes the interface predictable and easier to use.
Duplicate detection: We added tools to clean up duplicate certificates that sometimes got created during bulk imports or API usage. Keeps the database tidy without manual cleanup.
Direct document links: EPC certificates now link directly to the government EPC register, so you can verify ratings without downloading PDFs.
These aren't flashy new features—they're polish that makes daily operations smoother.
Real Example: Managing Certificate Renewals
Before LetAdmin (our process at Phillip James in 2023):
- Monthly spreadsheet check for expiring certificates (30 minutes)
- Email contractors with renewal list (15 minutes)
- Chase contractors for booking confirmations (20 minutes)
- Update spreadsheet when renewals completed (10 minutes)
- File PDF certificates in Google Drive folders (15 minutes)
Total time: 90 minutes per month + risk of missing renewals if spreadsheet isn't updated
With LetAdmin (our current process):
- Open "Expiring Soon" filter (shows all certificates expiring in next 90 days)
- Email contractors directly from property pages
- Upload new certificates when received (auto-updates expiry tracking)
Total time: 20 minutes per month + zero risk of missing renewals (system alerts automatically)
Time saved: 70 minutes per month = 14 hours per year = nearly 2 full working days
Why This Matters for Small Agencies
If you're managing 50-100 properties as an owner-operator, you don't have a dedicated compliance administrator. You're doing everything yourself: dealing with tenants, managing viewings, handling maintenance, chasing rent, AND staying on top of certificates.
Certificate management software shouldn't add complexity—it should remove friction. LetAdmin's approach is designed for small agencies:
- No training required: If you can use email, you can use this
- Fast daily operations: One-click access to certificates when needed
- Automatic compliance tracking: No manual spreadsheet updates
- Simple renewal workflow: See what's expiring, book renewals, upload new certificates
This is the kind of software that saves time every single day, not just during occasional compliance audits.
We'd Love to Hear from You
How do you currently track property certificates? Spreadsheets? Calendar reminders? A dedicated system?
What compliance challenges frustrate you most? Missing renewal dates? Chasing contractors? Finding old certificates?
What would make compliance management easier for your agency? We're building LetAdmin based on real agency needs, and we'd love to hear what matters to you.
Get in touch: paul@letadmin.com
LetAdmin is in active development, being built by letting agents for letting agents. We're documenting the journey publicly to share insights and gather feedback. If you're interested in what we're building or want to share your agency's needs, we'd love to hear from you.