Landlords responsibilities for electrical safety

Did You Know?

Landlords have a legal duty to ensure that their rental property, and any electrical equipment provided, is safe before a tenancy begins and throughout its duration.

The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 is the main legislation. Key points are:

• ·         The property should be fit for people to live in at the beginning of the tenancy
• ·         The property should be kept in a fit state for people to live in during the tenancy.
• ·         This places a duty on landlords to keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the property for the supply of water, gas and electricity, and for sanitation space heating and heating water.

According to an Electrical Safety Council (ESC) report, around one fifth of ‘buy to let landlords’ were unaware they could face fines of up to £20,000 for failing to comply with electrical safety laws and did not know their insurance would be voided if they did not keep up with their legal obligation to tenants living in their homes.

In January 2005, the Building Regulations for England & Wales were amended to include Part P, which covers electrical safety in dwellings. This means that all electrical installation work undertaken in a home in England or Wales must, by law, comply with Part P of the Building Regulations. Part P of the building regulations, states you must obtain a compliance certificate for certain electrical work done on your home. This can be provided on completion of the work by your local authority building control (LABC) or a registered competent person/company you employ to do the work such as Adept ESL Limited.

Every electrical installation deteriorates with use and age. You must ensure that your tenant(s) - or anyone entering or using your property - are not put at risk, by ensuring that the electrical installation remains in a safe and serviceable condition. An Electrical Installation Conditioning report (ECIR), checks the condition of an existing electrical installation against BS 7671, the UK Standard for the safety of electrical installations.