From the blog

04 – Electrical leaks or faults that can lead to electrical shocks

 Leakage is where an electrical current is passes down a path it is not intended to travel. This could be in an electrical installation or an applia...

03 – Overload – Protective Devices

Overload – Protective Devices There are a number of devices that are used in fuse boards, distribution boards and consumer units to prevent circuit ...

02 – Electrical Safety – Protection methods

Two fundamental electrical faults that require protective measures within any installation are: • Overloads or shorts • Electrical leaks or faults t...

Property Letting?  Complying with current legislation made easy

Current legislation has raised the safety standard of electrical and gas appliances in rented properties.

The laws apply to anyone involved in letting or managing properties, even on a short term basis, including letting agents, residential landlords, holiday lets, caravan and boating businesses.

We can take care of all your annual Electrical and Gas safety inspections, supplying full reports to landlords or management companies, and bring your gas and electrical systems up to the standard required or carry out repairs if required.

We can install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, fire alarms and emergency lighting.

Covering Devon and Somerset we are happy to contact your tenants direct thus alleviating the need for you to make appointments on our behalf and, hopefully saving you a bit of time and possibly frustration.  We will contact you every year, one month before the inspection is due.

By using multi-skilled engineers who are trained for both electrical and gas installations we can often achieve in one visit what others would need two or more visits to accomplish, thus keeping things extremely simple and saving cost.

We pride ourselves on our customer service so all our reports are supplied electronically, in simple English, and we keep historic records so we can track both what has been done and when possibly spotting  any emerging patterns.

Why not give us a call on 01823 668623 to find out how we can help making the letting of property much easier.

 

Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998

You must ensure that all gas appliances are maintained in good order and that an annual safety check is carried out by a registered Gas Safe Engineer

You must keep a record of the safety checks and issue it to the tenant within 28 days of each annual check.

All work carried out on gas appliances must be completed by a registered Gas Safe Engineer

Housing Act 2004

If your property is a Home in Multiple Occupation (HMO) you must ensure:

  • Adequate fire precautions and means of escape from fire
  • An automatic fire alarm and detection system
  • A safe electrical installation, certified by an electrical safety certificate
  • Emergency lighting system
  • Fire fighting equipment – fire blankets and extinguishers, sited in appropriate places

The Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994, mandatory since 1 January 1997.

All electrical appliances supplied with let accommodation must be safe.  This applies to both new and second-hand appliances and covers all electrical items supplied for the intended use of the tenant.

The regulations also cover fixed appliances such as cookers, showers and immersion heaters, which must also be safe. 

Failure to comply with the Electrical Regulations may constitute a criminal offence under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 which carries a maximum penalty on summary conviction of a £5000 fine and/or 6 months imprisonment

As a landlord what must I do?

Simply put you are responsible for ensuring the property you provide for your tenant is safe.

For gas this is straightforward. You must have carried out a landlord’s gas safety inspection at least once a year, by a gas safe registered engineer. You must supply a copy of the certificate to your tenant.

On the electrical side you have a legal responsibility to ENSURE the electrical installation and any appliances you supply are safe. It does not say you must test them (unless you have a HMO in which case you must test the installation and appliances) but if you do not test you cannot prove the installation was safe when the tenant moved in.

As a guide it is recommended that the installation has a fixed wire test at least every five years or on change of tenant. Appliances should be tested every year

I rent out a property unfurnished so there are no appliances to test are there?

You are still responsible for the installation. Also built in appliances such as ovens, fridges, washing machines etc are still classed as appliances so would need testing. For the purposes of electrical testing items such as storage heaters and immersion heaters are also classed as appliances as well. (Yes, we know they are not very portable).

My property is new I do not need a landlords gas safety certificate do I?

If the installation is new you need to have a copy of the installation certificate produced by the person who installed it. This should cover you for the 1st year.

However it is our experience that many new installations fail a landlord’s gas safety inspection and it is easier for the owner to get faults rectified by the builder then than when it fails the certificate 12 months later.