All landlords including councils and housing associations must make sure their rented properties are safe and fit to live in throughout all tenancies.
With advancements in electrical safety standards, it is crucial to stay informed and implement best practices to safeguard your property and its occupants.
A recent development in this area sees the launch of the Best Practice Guide 10: Electrical safety standards in the private rented sector by the charity Electrical Safety First. This guide is designed to assist landlords, electricians, letting agents, and tenants in conducting thorough electrical safety checks and reporting any defects found.
Our Landlord Insurance team have summarised the guide below.
Understanding the Need for Thorough Electrical Safety Checks
This guide emphasises the importance of conducting Electrical Installation Condition Reporting (EICR) at least every five years, as mandated by regulations. However, the charity highlights a significant issue: the inconsistency in reporting across different inspections. This lack of uniformity can lead to confusion for those reading the reports, potentially resulting in safety risks being overlooked or reported incorrectly.
Benefits for Electricians, Landlords, and Tenants
For electricians, the guide serves as a valuable tool for understanding expectations, defining the extent and limitations of their work, and improving the quality of their reports. Landlords and tenants, on the other hand, gain insights into what an EICR entails, what to expect from an electrician, crucial questions to ask, and how to adequately prepare for the inspection.
In a commitment to promoting electrical safety, the Best Practice Guide 10 is a welcome addition to the resources available to landlords. By adhering to the minimum standards outlined in the guide, landlords can contribute to creating safer living environments for their tenants.
Key Insights from the Best Practice Guide 10
David Powell, an electrical installation safety engineer at Electrical Safety First, identifies a key challenge in the broad scope of EICR, covering various areas. To address this problem, the guide establishes a minimum standard for expectations, outlines what should be inspected and tested, and provides guidance on how to clearly record findings in the extent and limitations section of an EICR and throughout the report.
To access the guide and other resources, visit Best Practice Guides here.
About Lansdown
Lansdown Insurance Brokers are specialists in Landlord Insurance and Block of Flats Insurance. We are able to provide flexible policies to suit individual client needs and provide advice on what cover is needed. For more information call the team on 01242 524498.
Lansdown is part of the Benefact Group, a charity-owned, international family of financial services companies that gives all available profits to charity and good causes.