There has been a lot of guesswork lately regarding the changes that have been made to the Landlord Electrical Regulations. This confusion has only made it worse that there has been very little information to what has (or will end up) changed.
FBS Electrical are your local electricians in Thanet and we have been helping local landlords since we started. When the regulations do change, we train our staff on the latest changes and notify our clients if they affect their rental properties.
We aim for this blog to be a guide for all landlords on the changes to the Electrical Regulations for 2020. As such, we often update our blogs with relevant information to changes in the industry and offer helpful hints and tips on electrical safety.
The Introduction.
There have been numerous different regulatory changes to the electrical industry recently. This doesn’t mean that they all affect property rentals directly. For this reason, we will only mention the changes that are relevant to the private rental sector.
It may seem to landlords that the same changes are responsible for every change that has come/coming in 2020. This is why it’s extremely important for us to clear the air surrounding this. There have been a large number of contractors who don’t understand the nuances of the rental sector. This could leave Landlords with very poor advice to what their responsibilities are. It could also not explain the best way to meet these requirements to ensure ongoing compliance.
The first of many changes to the Electrical Regulations is the 18th Edition of the wiring regulations, which was brought into force in 2019. This change had no part to play in the landlord requirements. It was more about the series of technical changes relating to the actual installations.
The second change, which is going to affect landlords is relating to Electrical Inspections (also known as EICR) The regulation mentioned are being introduced by The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
These new regulations became law on 1st June 2020! The regulations have been spoken about for some time and this change has brought England in line with the mandatory requirements for electrical inspections in Scotland.
If your property is old and has particularly old wiring, then compliance with these new regulations could be costly at an awkward time for Landlords.
It is also awkward for both tenants and electricians, and the visits into personal homes with the current crisis are not something we really are looking forward to.
The Coronavirus Crisis has severely delayed the time in which landlords have to comply with these new regulations, and there are concerns that there will be so many needing doing in such a relatively short space of time that the whole industry will struggle to cope.
Our advice to Landlords is to find a reliable local electrician. I would advise against solely shopping around based on price alone as some unscrupulous traders have been known to use EICRs as 'loss leaders' to make more profit by exaggerating the remedial works required
Changes to be Introduced Surrounding Landlord Electrical Inspections in 2020
For some time now there has been rumours that 'mandatory electrical inspections' would be brought in as a requirement in the Private Rented Sector. in England
Early 2019 did see the introduction of a draft set of proposals regarding this, however, the lack of parliamentary time due to the whole Brexit saga meant movement was slow.
However, on the 13th of January 2020, a full detailed set of regulations were laid out before parliament for their consideration. The "Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020" detail the new requirements for electrical safety checks in rental properties and the expected timescales for their implementation.
In a nutshell, the regulations require that every private rented property has an electrical inspection completed by a suitably qualified person, a minimum of every 5 years. ***There are instances where this timescale may be shorter, such as where the previous inspection has suggested a shorter timeframe due to the condition of the installation
“Landlords provide a copy of the electrical inspection report to the tenant within 28 days of the inspection (or before the tenancy begins for new tenants)”
“Landlords must supply a copy to the local authority within 7 days (if requested to do so)”
- Any faults highlighted by the electrical inspection must be remedied within 28 days (or sooner if detailed within the electrical report)Written confirmation must be obtained to
Non-compliance with the new regulations will mean the local authority will supply the landlord with an 'enforcement notice'. If a landlord fails to act upon this, the local authority can enforce it by having the repairs completed (and billing the landlord) or even impose a fine of up to £30,000
Landlord Electrical Safety Tests are now a requirement for any NEW TENANCIES!