Belvoir Sheffield along with safety campaigners are warning landlords that they are responsible for electrical safety in their properties and that those found to be negligent could face large fines or even a prison sentence.
The announcement came as the Electrical Safety Council earlier this week claimed that ‘the rise in the number of people becoming landlords without fully researching what this means in terms of their legal obligations, could put lives at risk.’
Here at Belvoir Sheffield we are finding that some people that want to move and are unable to sell their homes are choosing to become landlords at least until the market improves.
This does provide a short term solution to the problem of not being able to sell and allows these people to move on, but it is leaving an influx of ‘inexperienced landlords’ which is a worrying situation in terms of electrical legislation.
The Electrical Safety Council has now produced guidelines to outline what landlords must do. The charity has also produced a free smartphone app for carrying out checks.
Accidental landlords are at risk of falling short of their environmental responsibilities. Landlords should make a thorough inspection of the property before a tenancy starts to look out for loose wires, damaged sockets and faulty appliances.
For HMOs, inspections must be carried out by law every five years. For non-HMO properties there is no legal obligation but regular inspections are recommended. These should be carried out by a registered electrician and an Electrical Installation Condition Report should be produced. It is also important for a landlord to get all appliances Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) tested. This should be done before each new tenancy and repeated before they run out.
At Belvoir we offer a full end-to-end managed lettings service for both landlords and tenants, for any type of property, furnished or unfurnished. The first step for anyone considering letting out their own home, or that of a relative, for the first time, is to contact us for an initial, no obligation meeting at which we can go through all of the options open to them, We will also then make them aware of their legal obligations.
Call us at Belvoir Kettering for more information or advice 01536 415415
