I work with a growing number of landlords in the Coventry and Birmingham areas to ensure their homes are up to rental standard.
It may seem obvious that your rental property must be electrically safe, however many of my clients who rent out properties thought they were following the recommendations, but unfortunately because of poor advice or bad electrical work they find that more work needs to be done to bring properties up to rental standard.
A good electrician breaks down the confusion
The current electrical safety recommendations surrounding rental properties can be confusing at the best of times so landlords are turning to qualified and registered electricians to sort out their electrical needs. This is a wise move as the penalties for renting out property that is not up to rental standards are harsh. Did you know that a tenant can sue you if an electrical incident occurs in your property due to dangerous electrics? There are also high fines in place which have recently been increased by the Government of up to £20,000. It is clearly important that such scenarios are avoided by having an electrician take care of your rental property electrics.
Electrical Experts – taking care of all your electrical needs as a landlord
I highly recommend using one electrician or electrical contractor to take care of all your rental property electrical needs. Not only will the electrician be familiar with your properties and will be keeping you up to date with the changing regulations but also you will be benefiting from preferential landlord deals. Here at Electrical Experts I offer a special maintenance package just for landlords.
Is your property up to standard?
Just last week I visited a rental property which had a problem with the RCD tripping – clearly this is a matter that needs urgent attention whether you own your home or rent it. When I had rectified the problem which incidentally was a lack of sleeving on the earth wires in his kitchen sockets and the back boxes not being earthed, I took a look round the property to ensure the rest of the electrical installation was safe.
What I found was concerning. I noticed many things within the property which would not pass an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR.) When I pointed this out to the Landlord, he was under the impression that his new consumer unit was a sufficient means of ensuring electrical safety for his tenants.
Unfortunately, although the landlord had good intentions of protecting his tenants from the dangers of electricity, and believed he was following the recommendations, he was actually still endangering their lives. This is why I welcome the impending changes to the recommendations which will make an EICR on rental properties compulsory. Not all landlords intentionally endanger their tenants, this was a typical case of how easily the recommendations can be misunderstood.
Always use a qualified and registered electrician to carry out electrical work on your property
Continuing with the landlord mentioned above, it transpired that the person who fitted the consumer unit was an unregistered electrician. The electrician had told him that having a new consumer unit was good enough to protect his tenants.
Not only did I have to make safe some potentially dangerous electrical work, I had to inform him that he was unfortunately given bad advice and his rental property was still not up to the required standard to safely rent.
Are you a landlord like the one above?
You are certainly not alone and I wonder how many landlords are out there who believe that their consumer unit alone is good enough to protect the electrical safety of their tenants.
It is important that the rest of the electrical installation in your property is professionally checked and a report produced to confirm that your property reaches the required rental standard. This is known as an EICR and I wholeheartedly recommend this as the best way of ensuring your property is safe to rent.
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