What should a Landlord’s Electrical Inspection include?

What should a Landlord’s Electrical Inspection include?

From the 1st July 2020, Landlords’ electrical inspections will be a mandatory legal requirement, but even now, it makes common sense to get one. As well as ensuring the electrical safety of your property, they also add value by way of validating insurance and helping to prevent costly fires and electric shocks that could significantly damage a home as well as your reputation and pocket.

Landlords have been expected to provide safe homes for their tenants at the start and throughout each and every tenancy agreement; completing necessary electrical repairs and updating installations to minimise the risk of any threat posed by poor wiring, fuse boxes and plugs. With the introduction of new electrical safety standards however, it is more important than ever to safely maintain every rented property you are responsible for and ensure you have the correct, up to date certification to prove this.

Responsibilities by law

As a landlord, you will likely carry out regular inspections of your own but when you are offering a property in the private rented sector; your legal responsibilities are as follows:

  • Before each tenancy; you must ensure that the electrical installation is safe and maintained throughout that tenancy.
  • That every appliance is safe.
  • That every property in multiple occupation (HMO) has an electrical inspection carried out every 5 years.

It is also recommended that you:-

  • Carry out regular visual inspections
  • Ensure property insurance is valid and up to date
  • Ensure each and every property has RCD protection
  • Only use a registered electrician to carry out any electrical work on your property including regular checks on any electrical appliances that are part of the rental agreement.

Now is a good time to start as you mean to go on

If you do not meet these responsibilities then you could be liable for negligence and face prosecution should an electric shock or fire occur. This is why Connex Electrical recommends whether you have one rental property or a portfolio; you invest in landlord electrical inspection and testing carried out by a registered electrician on any rental property (not just HMO) to provide ultimate peace of mind for you and your tenants at least every 5 years.

What should the landlord electrical inspection include?

The inspection should include a full EICR which stands for Electrical Installation Certificate Report where the full testing of all fixed electrical equipment that is supplied via the property’s electric is carried out. This can only be performed by a registered electrician and the certification will then be digitally accessible. In the event that the safety of the property does not meet the conditions to be issued with an EICR the electrician will be able to advise on and carry out any necessary repairs.

PAT testing

In addition to the electrical inspection; Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) is also available from your registered electrician to check the safety of appliances to ensure you have fully met all legal landlord requirements.

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