Regulations updating electrical safety standards in privately rented properties were brought into law in England on 1 June 2020.

Published as The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, this new legislation added requirements for renting out a property.

These requirements are intended to protect tenants from the small minority of landlords who fail to ensure the safety of property they are renting out.

The UK Government website described the legislation as meaning “all landlords now have to do what good landlords already do: make sure the electrical installations in their rented properties are safe”.

The Government hopes that this attempt to improve the standards of electrical safety will be a major step towards “levelling up the private rented sector” and ensuring that it offers the “high-quality, safe and secure housing” the “country deserves”.

01 | What do these new requirements entail?

The 2020 electrical safety regulations place two requirements on landlords.

Firstly, landlords must now ensure that their property meets national standards for electrical safety, as set out in the 18th edition of the wiring regulations.

Second, they must ensure that the electrical installations in each of their properties are inspected and tested at least as regularly as once every five years. These inspections and tests must be carried out by a “qualified and competent person”.

Landlords can fulfil these requirements by obtaining an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) for each of their properties once every five years, and by carrying out any improvements or repairs it indicates are necessary.

02 | How do Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICRs) work?

An EICR assesses the safety of an existing electrical installation within a property and grades if it is satisfactory.

This report involves examining elements of the property’s electrics, including fuse boxes, lights, switches, and sockets, as well as any protective bonding.

It will show whether a property’s electrical installation is satisfactory or unsatisfactory, offer a list of observations of issues which affect safety, and set a date for the next inspection and test.

Each of the safety observations made are given codes which indicate how serious they are.

A C1 code indicates danger is present, there is a risk of injury, and immediate remedial action is required. A C2 code indicates something is potentially dangerous and that urgent remedial attention is required. An FI code indicates further investigation is required.

All three of these codes are considered unsatisfactory and require remedial work to be carried out.

If an EICR has a C1, C2 or FI code the owner is responsible for organising a repair within 28 days, or a shorter period if specified as necessary by the report. If A C1 code is discovered the electrician will often take temporary action to ensure the properties electrical installations are safe. This making safe will often require further work to put it right.

Following an unsatisfactory EICR, the landlord does not need to obtain a second full EICR.

The only document needed is written evidence from a qualified and competent individual that the required work to make the properties electrical installations satisfactory has been carried out.

Not all observations made on an EICR are as serious as a code C1, C2, or FI.

An observation with a C3 code indicates that an improvement is recommended but not required. It is given to aspects of the electrical installation which do not present a danger, but which could be updated to improve safety standards in the property.

This code does not indicate that any action needs to be taken and does not mean that the installation is unsafe.

Note that an electrical installation does not need to comply with the 18th edition of the Wiring Regulations. A C3 code is often given when an element of the electrical installation is safe and compliant but does not match the latest edition of the regulations.

03 | Who is considered “qualified and competent” to undertake an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR)

An electrical inspector undertaking an EICR on a property must fulfil several requirements.

The inspector must have qualifications covering the current version of the wiring regulations (BS 7671), and qualifications covering the periodic inspection, testing and certification of electrical installations.

In addition, they must have at least two years of experience carrying out periodic electrical inspections and tests.

The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) recommends using a company on the National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers (NAPIT) electrical inspector register.

The NRLA advise that advantages of using someone registered with NAPIT include that the experience and competence of registered contractors is regularly assessed and verified. This involves the contractors having some of their work checked for compliance, and can lead to subpar contractors being sanctioned, or even having their NAPIT approval removed.

04 | Why do you need to keep hold of your EICR?

There are several reasons to keep hold of a copy of your EICR.

Landlords are required to provide copies of their properties EICRs to existing, new and prospective tenants, as well as future contractors and the local housing authority.

They are required to give a copy of the EICR to any existing tenants within 28 days of the report being made and to any new tenants prior to their move in date.

The report must also be supplied to any prospective tenant within 28 days of them making a written request for it.

Local housing authority requests are different. The EICR must be supplied to the local housing authority within 7 days of the authority making a request for it in writing.

Landlords are also expected to keep a copy of their EICR report to give to the inspector and tester undertaking their next report on the property, five years down the line. If a landlord decides to sell their property they will also be asked to provide a copy of this as part of the conveyancing task.

In addition, if any remedial work is specified in an unsatisfactory EICR, the property owner must ensure that their tenants and the local housing authority are supplied with written confirmation that said work has been completed.

This confirmation must be provided within 28 days and must come from a “qualified and competent” person.

05 | Who do these requirements apply to?

The 2020 regulations apply when a private tenant has a right to occupy a property as their only or main residence and pays rent.

This includes conventional assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs), and less formal licenses to occupy, where for example, part or all the rent is paid in labour. These cover the vast majority of private rented property.

The regulations also apply to houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). An HMO is defined as when a property is rented out by more than three people who are not from one household. While previously, HMOs had their own regulations regarding electricity safety, these have been repealed and they are now covered by The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, along with most other tenancies.

One notable exemption to these regulations is in the case of properties housing lodgers. Landlords hosting lodgers are not required to follow these regulations. Here a lodger is defined as a person who pays rent to live in the same property and share amenities as their landlord or a member of their landlord’s family.

Private registered providers of social housing, and owners of student halls, hospitals, hostels, care homes and refuges are also exempt from these rules. Note that these properties are often regulated by different, often more difficult legislation.

06 | Why might these requirements prove onerous to landlords?

The main concern landlords have with this legislation is the potential for five-digit fines.

These can be levied upon a landlord by a local housing authority if the landlord fails to get a satisfactory EIRC for their property within the timescales outlined by the regulations.

In addition, if an EIRC reveals that a property needs work to improve its electrical safety standards and the landlord fails to undertake the work within 28 days, the local authority can take action to arrange for an authorised person to undertake any required remedial work.

The local housing authority can then recover reasonable costs from the landlord.

In both cases, the local housing authority can impose a financial penalty of up to £30,000.

In Summary

The changes to EICR regulations add another task for a landlord complete and give the regulators another opportunity to impose substantial fines.

While having the electrics checked every five years is not the most onerous requirement landlords have to deal with, this additional cost and hassle could be the motivation some need to sell up, and move their assets into another, potentially more profitable venture.

If you are interested in selling a buy-to-let property quickly, with or without tenants in place, you should contact our expert team at National Property Buyers today.

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