What is happening?
Recommended new safety measures to better protect private tenants by reducing the risk of electric shocks or fires caused by electrical faults were published for consultation on 17th February 2018 by the Housing Minister. It now appears they may be in place as early as April 2019.
Five yearly mandatory electrical installation safety checks for all private rented properties and safety certificates for tenants, to prove checks and repair work have been completed, are part of a package of independent recommendations to improve safety.
The government is also consulting on how best to enforce the new safety standards, with fines potentially reaching £30,000 for breaches of new regulations.
As well as making homes safer for tenants, electrical installation improvements benefit the landlord as a material improvement to their properties, helping prevent fires which could cause costly and significant damage.
How does this affect our landlords and what are we doing?
We are very much appreciative of the growing costs attributed to be a professional landlord – with growing numbers of new regulations. It is a distinct possibility that when electrical checks become mandatory that electricians’ costs may rise to reflect the fact that it is a necessity.
We have begun to contact several suitably qualified and highly reputable electricians to ensure that we are ready for any changes that may come into place. A vast majority of our landlords already have the necessary checks and paperwork in place however for those that do not or need an up to date certificate we want to ensure that costs are managed to the best of our ability.
We will be in touch in the early part of 2019 to any landlord that either requires a certificate or has one about to expire to try and “bulk book” these with one of the contractors we are currently in communication with to ensure the best deals are available.
If you have any queries regarding future electrical checks please contact Chris on 07515984476
