Electrical Services

New Legislation

Under Part 5 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016, provision was made to allow for legislation to be created for electrical safety standards in a private rented property.

The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 have now been published.

The regulations commenced 1 June 2020 and all new tenancies (including renewals) which commenced on or after 1 July 2020 must NOW comply, and from 1 April 2021 for all existing tenancies.

We take safety seriously

Faulty electrics in the home is the biggest cause of fire with one of the highest mortality rates.  Therefore, it is of exceptional importance that electrics in a rental property must be taken seriously.  At Wills & Smerdon, we employ the services of the most trustworthy, competent and qualified electricians to undertake our electrical work, such as checking the circuitry and carrying out inspections on the condition of all existing electrical installations in the property (periodic inspections now know as EICR inspections) or annual visual or portable appliance tests. All engineers we use qualified to City & Guilds 2391 standard and will have all of the relevant insurances to work in your property.  We will carry out checks to ensure that our contractors have been timely, polite, friendly and tidy.  We regularly check to ensure that our contractors are priced competitively so that you are getting the best value for money.

The legal bit

The Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994

Although these regulations do not demand an annual landlord certificate for electrical equipment within a rented property, the Consumer Protection Act 1987 clearly states that any rented property MUST BE SAFE FOR THE PURPOSE. Unless you are able to categorically confirm that ALL electrical appliances and equipment in your rented property are safe (which means it must be checked by a competent person) then you will remain criminally negligent if anything happens to your tenant as a result of faulty electrical equipment. It is our understanding that Trading Standards Officers will expect all cabling, fuses and electrical equipment to be inspected as part of a Periodic Inspection every 5 years with a Portable Appliance Test or Visual Inspection taking place annually or at the change of tenancy.