Private landlords must ensure:
- Electrical safety standards are met when the property is ocupied during a tenancy.
- Every fixed electrical installation at the property is inspected and tested at least every five years by a qualified person.
- The first inspection and testing is carried out before new tenancies commence on or after 1 July 2020 and by 1 April 2021 for existing tenancies.
The inspection and testing of the installation must be carried out in accordance with the eighteenth edition of the wiring reguations BS 7671:2018 (the national standard to which all domestic wiring must conform). The electrician who carries out the test must be qualified to do so.
NB. Where the most recent report requires an inspection and testing to be at intervals of less than five years, it must be at intervals specified in the report.
FOLLOWING THE TESTING AND INSPECTION A LANDLORD MUST:
1. Obtain a report that includes the results of the inspection and test and the date of the next inspection and test.
2. Supply a copy of the report to each existing tenant at the property within 28 calendar days of the inspection and test.
3. Supply a copy of the most recent report to any new tenant before the tenant moves in and to any prospective tenant within 28 days of receiving a request in writing for the report.
4. Retain a copy of the report until the next inspection and the test is due as well as suply a copy to the person carrying out the next inspection and test.
NB. When requested, the report must be provided to the local authority within seven calendar days.
WHEN FURTHER WORK IS REQUIRED
Where a report requires that extra/remedial work be carried out at a property, then the landlord must ensure that the said work is carried out at the property by a qulaified person within 28 calendar days or within the period specified in the report, if sooner.
Landlords must then:
1. Obtain written confirmation from the qualified person that the work has been carried out and that it meets the required electrical safety standards.
2. Supply written confirmation together with a copy of the report outlining the remedial work done to each existing tenant within 28 dys of the work being completed.
Little London Estates monitor all of our managed properties to ensure that the correct certification is up to date for each property.
As a landlord, it is also of paramount importance that:
- all electrical equipment supplied must be safe. This will require that the electrical appliances, including their leads (frayed or worn leads are dangerous), are checked by a competent and suitably qualified engineer. Unsafe items should be removed.
- all electrical equipment that is manufactured after the 1st January 1997 must be marked with the appropriate CE symbol.
- all electrical appliances supplied by you are supplied with a correctly fused plug fitted to them. It is illegal to do otherwise.
- the manufacturer’s instruction booklet be provided wherever possible for each appliance that is supplied. This will help to ensure that the tenant uses the equipment safely.
- all electrical appliances are tested prior to the initial letting of a property and annually thereafter. If an individual appliance is used particularly frequently or in a harsh environment (e.g. wet conditions), then more frequent testing may be required.
For more information, see Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020: legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/312/introduction/made