If you are a private landlord you should hopefully now be aware of the latest legal changes that were enforced on the 1st June 2020 as set out by the Electrical Safety Standards which now requires regular electrical inspections to be carried out every 5 years. It is also required that between the change of tenants you should also carry out a full inspection to ensure you comply with the recent changes.

Failure to carry out the tests within the specified time frame can result in fines up to £30,000.

What is the test?

The electrical condition report, or EICR, is to be carried out by a ‘competent person’ in other words, a qualified electrician.  The report will list any areas that are of concern and should be rectified. It is, in simple terms, the property equivalent of an MOT you get for a car.  There are advisory elements that SHOULD be addressed and there are unsatisfactory elements that MUST be addressed.

How long do I have to carry out the repairs?

Any urgent or remedial works are to be carried out within 28 days of the report.  If this timeframe is missed then you will have to request a new report, and pay the associated costs of this, and the 28 day period begins again.

There are, sadly, a number of landlords who may not wish to proceed with the suggested work as they find it may be too costly but we urge against this as not only will you potentially have a significant fine, more importantly, you are reducing the safety of your tenants by ignoring any dangerous issues.

Once the report has been created, you MUST issue a copy of the report to each of the existing tenants within 28 days and you MUST provide a copy to your local authority within 7 days.

You will also need to provide a copy of the report to any new tenant before the new tenancy begins

What happens after work has been carried out?

If you’ve enlisted a qualified electrician to carry out the work (it doesn’t have to be the same company who provided the report either) then you don’t have to generate a new report. As long as all the work is recorded and written confirmation supplied by the electrician alongside the unsatisfactory report then this is sufficient.

If you would like to find out more information about the reports and how this may affect you then please see the NRLA website for a detailed overview

When is the work carried out?

You can organise this to fit around your schedule, as long as it is within the 28-day timeframe.  We’ve been working closely with electricians over the years and can manage their time whilst we’re carrying out our decoration services so, most of our clients leave things with us to manage as we’re already in the property.

If you have any further questions about our range of services then please don’t hesitate to ask