Since the new regulations in July, we've been taking care of the new legal requirements that come with letting your property, we wanted to update you with the latest information released on the new legislative requirement to provide tenants with an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR).
The responsibility for ensuring this is done rests on the Landlord and as always, we take these matters seriously on your behalf.
The relevant legislation which requires you to undertake this electrical testing is The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020.
These matters will be enforced by Local authorities and they can impose fines for non-compliance of £30,000.
What the Regulations Say:
Landlords in the Private Rented Sector (PRS) must ensure every electrical installation in their residential premises is inspected and tested at intervals of no more than 5 years by a qualified and competent person.
These apply to all new standard Tenancies from the 1st July 2020 and existing Tenancies from 1st April 2021.
Following the inspection and testing, a landlord must supply a report provided by the qualified person conducting that inspection and test. This gives the results of the inspection and test and the date of the next one due. This must be supplied to each existing tenant of the residential premises within 28 days of the inspection and test and before move in for a new Tenant moving in.
You must also retain a copy of the report and provide it to the local council within 7 days of their request.
Sometimes the reports do bring up an issue that is deemed unsafe, where this occurs there is a duty under the regulations to get the work completed by a qualified person within 28 days of the inspection or earlier if the report states a shorter time frame. We will obtain quotes for this work and speak to you for authorisation as usual. Once the work is done, we must obtain written confirmation it is complete and hand that to the Tenant within 28 days of the work being completed.
