Landlord Electrical Safetyin Worcester

What the 2020 regulations actually require

The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 came in on 1 June 2020, applied to new tenancies from 1 July 2020 and to every existing tenancy from 1 April 2021. The core duty is short: have the fixed installation inspected and tested at intervals of no more than five years, and keep it in a condition the report calls satisfactory.

The deadlines around the report catch more landlords out than the inspection does. A copy goes to the existing tenant within 28 days of the inspection. A new tenant gets one before they move in. A prospective tenant who asks gets one within 28 days. The local authority gets one within seven days of asking. Keep the previous report too, because the next inspector is entitled to see it.

If the report comes back unsatisfactory the clock starts. Anything coded C1, C2 or FI has to be put right, or investigated, within 28 days, and sooner if the report names a shorter period. Then written confirmation that the work is done goes to the tenant and to the local authority within 28 days of the work finishing. A C3 is a recommendation and carries no deadline at all, which is why it matters that your report codes things properly.

A local authority that believes you are in breach can serve a remedial notice and, if it is ignored, arrange the work itself and recover the cost, with a financial penalty of up to thirty thousand pounds for a breach. Worcester is in England, so this is the regime that applies here. Scotland and Wales run their own, on their own timetables, and a letting agent working across borders is worth checking.

What a landlord inspection includes

The report the regulations ask for, in a form your local authority will accept, with the dates you need on it.

• A full EICR of the fixed installation, every circuit tested
• Observations coded C1, C2, C3 or FI, each with its location
• Anything coded C1 made safe before we leave
• The date the next inspection is due, stated on the report
• A separate written price for any remedial work, itemised
• Written confirmation of completion once remedial work is done
• A copy held on file, so a lost report is a phone call

How a let property is handled

Access

We deal with the tenant directly on timing if you would rather not be the one arranging it.

Inspect and test

The full schedule, with the power off for the part that needs it and the tenant told beforehand.

Report

Satisfactory or not, sent the same week, with remedial work priced separately.

Within 28 days

Any remedial work done and confirmed in writing, so your deadline is met rather than approached.

Landlord work across Worcester and Worcestershire

Student lets and rentals to people working in the city, around Worcester make up most of this work, with portfolios in Droitwich Spa, Malvern, Pershore, Evesham and Stratford-upon-Avon. The inspection itself is an EICR; where one comes back unsatisfactory the remedial work is most often a fuse board upgrade, and occasionally a partial rewire of the circuits that failed rather than the whole house.

What happens if the report is not done

The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 put the duty on the landlord, not the agent and not the tenant. A local authority that believes a property is in breach can serve a remedial notice, and where a landlord does not act it can arrange the work itself and recover the cost. The penalty for a breach is a financial one and can reach thirty thousand pounds. In practice the more common problem is quieter: a sale or a remortgage stalls because nobody can find a current report, or an insurer asks for one after a claim and there is nothing on file. Keeping the report, the dates and the written confirmation of any remedial work in one place costs nothing and is the difference between a five minute email and a scramble.

The landlord electrical safety certificate, and what it is called

A landlord electrical safety certificate is an EICR: the Electrical Installation Condition Report. There is no separate document with that name, which is why people ring having been asked for one and told they already have the other. The report is what the 2020 regulations require, it runs to a five year interval and to a change of tenancy, and the tenant has to have a copy within 28 days. If it comes back with a C1 or a C2 the work has to be done within 28 days and you need written confirmation of it, which is the part most often missed.