News
Are you fulfilling your electrical safety obligations?
Monday 6th June 2016
As a landlord in the private rented sector, there are a number of responsibilities you must fulfil in order to keep your property and tenants safe. One of those being electrical safety. Find out whether you're meeting your obligations or whether you could be facing penalties and fines.
According to Electrical Safety First, many landlords are exposing themselves to significant financial risks from fines and invalidated insurances, by not fulfilling their electrical safety obligations. For clarification, please find a list below to help ensure you are meeting the requirements as a landlord.
Your responsibilities as a landlord
Landlords are required by law to ensure:-
- That the electrical installation in a rented property is safe when tenants move in and maintained in a safe condition throughout its duration.
- That a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) has a periodic inspection carried out on the property every five years. If your property is not an HMO you are not legally obliged to do this. However, it is recommended that a periodic inspection and test is carried out by a registered electrician on your rental properties at least every five years.
- That any appliance provided is safe and has at least the CE marking (which is the manufacturer’s claim that it meets all the requirements of European law).
To meet these requirements a landlord will need to regularly carry out basic safety checks to ensure that the electrical installation and appliances are safe and working.
The recent Housing and Planning Act has included changes to the electrical safety regulations by introducing a new power to impose new standards on the private rented scheme.
RLA Policy Director David Smith discusses the new legislation and offers his thoughts on the potential impact of the changes here