Mar

The day approaches when mandatory five-year electrical checks are required

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Electrical Checks:

Electrical safety
inspections and reports will become a mandatory requirement for all
new tenancies in England signed on or after the 1^st of
July this year.

Fines will be heavy
for those landlords who fail to have their rental properties tested
by a qualified electrician before letting, or if they fail to comply
with any of the important recommendations made in the test report.
The landlord will ordinarily have 28 days to make good any reported
defects or needed improvements, unless the issue is dangerous, in
which case it may be recommended the remedy is made sooner.

This article is
based on English law and is not a definitive statement or
interpretation of the law; rules change and every case is different –
ultimately only a court can decide. Other jurisdictions are similar
but there are important differences. Always seek expert advice before
making or not making decisions.

Local authorities
will have the power to issue a fine of up to £30,000 and where
necessary may carry out any recommended remedial work itself and
charge the landlord for this work.

The electrical
safety regulations were put before Parliament in January in order to
implement this long awaited change, which will bring electrical
testing in-line with the gas safety check regime and the electrical
regulations already operative in licensed Houses in Multiple
Occupation (HMOs), as well as the electrical testing regulations in
operation in Scotland.

The planned
implementation of the regulations for the 1^st of July,
providing there are no delays in the Parliamentary schedule in view
of the current health crisis, will not affect existing tenancies
until the 1^st of April 2021. Before then, landlords will
need to contact their existing tenants to make arrangements to have
the checks done.

Not all tenancies
will be affected by the regulations. Excluded ones will be:

social
landlords
resident
landlords, where the tenant lives in the same building.
Landlords with
lodgers
long leaseholds
and tenancies in excess of seven years or more.
student
lettings in halls, hostels, refugee care homes, hospitals or
hospices.

Included in the
checks will be all electrical wiring and fixed electrical
installations. The checks must be carried out by an approved and
qualified electrician who will produce a report which must be shown
to tenants on entry to the property, or in the case of existing
tenants, up to 28 days following the checks on or before the 1^st
of April 2021.

Ordinarily new
checks and a new report will need to be produced on or before the
fifth anniversary of the previous checks, unless that is the landlord
makes changes to the electrical wiring or installations in the
rental, in which case earlier checks will be needed.

Given that there is
likely to be a heavy demand for qualified electricians to carry out
these checks, and any remedial work needed, it makes sense to be
prudent and for landlords to act sooner rather than later to make
sure they are compliant when the new law when it comes in – even if
it were delayed, it is certain to come in soon.

As with the gas
safety checks, landlords will need to produce and supply to tenants
the correct documents, including the electrician’s report prior to
any lettings, otherwise they may be unable to peruse a possession
claim if the need arises. Similarly, agents will refuse to let
properties lacking the correct documentation.

Landlords will also
need to plan ahead to balance their cash flows as this change has the
potential to cost them quite a lot of money, depending on the state
of the electrical systems in their portfolio of properties.

Most landlords will
appreciate the necessity of having their wiring and installations,
just as their gas systems, safe and free from defects. Most will be
brought up to the modern safety standards relatively inexpensively,
but it’s the rogue landlords, those with defective and dangerous
properties that this measure is aimed at.

These new
regulations will replace the already existing requirements and
regulations for houses in multiple occupation (HMO) to have the
electrical installations tested.

Should tenants
refuse landlords access for inspections and any required remedial
work, and this is not unheard of with gas checks, the landlord could
be considered to have breached this duty, even the landlord has tried
repeatedly. It is important therefore to keep the local authority
informed in this event, preferably in writing.

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