RE: The ELECTRICAL SAFETY STANDARDS in the PRIVATE
RENTAL SECTOR (England) ACT 2020.
We write to inform you of some recent important regulations
advised by the government regarding electrical safety within rented property.
On the 12th January 2020, the Government laid before
Parliament, ‘The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector
(England) Regulations 2020’. The draft legislation still requires approval from
the House of Commons and the House of Lords, but it is intended that the new Regulations
will come into force on 1st June 2020 and apply to England only. Note: In view of the recent Covid19
Pandemic the government is urging local authorities to apply common sense and
understanding if there is any delay in a landlord obtaining a report. This new
regulation has rather taken a back seat over the past few months but it is best
we are prepared.
The new Regulations are intended to improve
electrical safety and require inspection and testing, including any necessary remedial
work to be carried out on electrical installations within the private rented
sector, at intervals not exceeding five years.
In the UK, any property that is privately owned and
being rented out as housing is classified as private rented sector housing,
this includes Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO). The new regulations replace
the existing requirements for electrical testing of HMOs.
These regulations apply to private landlords for all
new specified tenancies from 1st July 2020 and all existing tenancies from 1st
April 2021. An ‘existing specified tenancy’ means a specified tenancy which was
granted before the coming into force of these regulations, a ‘new specified
tenancy’ means a specified tenancy which is granted on or after these regulations
come into force.
Local Authorities (LA) are required to enforce the
new legislation and can impose a fine of up to £30,000 for a breach of these
Regulations, where there are multiple breaches, the LA can impose multiple penalties.
It’s The draft rules have now been laid before Parliament
and according to draft regulations will come into force in June 2020.
In essence this means that the regulations require
landlords to organise ‘inspection and testing’ of all electrical installations in
relation to:
- All new commencing from 1st
June 2020 and
- All existing tenancies from
1st April 2021.
This would also include renewals and statutory
periodic tenancies, which may catch out the unwary.
Properties must be inspected by a ‘qualified person’
before granting a tenancy, these reports will usually last for 5 years at which
time a new test will need to be carried out.
We are currently putting into place the necessary
means to be able to carry out these checks on behalf of our landlords if required
and expect the cost of five year report to be in the region of £180.00. If you
as a landlord have your own approved contractor this is good and would ask you
to organise an inspection as soon as practicable and in line with the dates highlighted
above and to supply us with a copy of the report.
For those landlords who require us to arrange the
report on their behalf we would ask you to advise us as soon as possible so
that we may diarise this to ensure that you comply with the legislation. We do
expect most electricians to be very busy due to the requirements of this act.
The Full Government guidance can be viewed by clicking
on the following link
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electrical-safety-standards-in-the-private-rented-sector-guidance-for-landlords-tenants-and-local-authorities
