Exactly Why Do Landlords Really need to Complete A Power Inspection?

Around 20% of UK housing is rented.

You can find 2 primary Acts of Parliament that impose a statutory obligation on home owners

in regards to the safety of electrical equipment:

1. The Client Protection Act 1987 landlords electrical testing obligations.

2. The Safety and health at the job etc. Act 1974

The Client Protection Act affects all persons who let property over the course of their business as it defines these people as "suppliers", i.e. they may be supplying goods on the tenant. There are numerous parts of secondary legislation throughout the umbrella of your Consumer protection Act which might be directly strongly associated with the availability of electrical goods, for example:

1. The Low Voltage Electrical Equipment Regulations 1989

2. The Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994

3. The Normal Product Safety Regulations 1994

4. The Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994

Electrical Safety in Rental Property

Apart from the Landlord’s Common Law duty of care, the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 (and several other statutory regulations see below)demands the electrical machines are dependable at the start of every tenancy and looked after within a safe condition in the tenancy.

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Electrical hazards may also be engrossed in the Housing Safety and health Rating System below the Housing Act 2004.

In case of commercial premises and houses in multiple occupation there exists a statutory duty below the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005 for virtually every liable person (the real estate manager) to handle yearly Fire Safety Risk Assessments, including electrical safety risks.

In case you let property being a landlord you will need to be sure that the electrical system and all of the appliances provided are secure - failure to adhere to the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994 and the The Customer Protection Act 1987 is really a criminal offence and may result in:

A penalty of Ј5,000 per non compliant item

Up to 6 months imprisonment

Possible manslaughter charges when it comes to deaths

The Tenant may additionally sue you for civil damages

Your residence insurance might be invalidated

These regulations are imposed with the Health & Safety Executive.

Essentially, these rules require a duty on landlords to be sure that all electrical equipment supplied by them is safe to be used through the tenant. The Client Protection Act provides a defence of 'due diligence', such as a landlord could defend a contravention of the Act if they can demonstrate that they took reasonable steps in order to avoid committing the offence.