New Electrical Safety Regulations for landlords!

Coming in July 1st for new tenancies - are you ready for the law change?

New ESR (Electrical Safety Regulations) will shortly come into force, subject to parliamentary approval. In simple terms, these new electrical requirements will replicate those of the long-standing Gas Safety Regulations. These new regulations are part and parcel of the governments Rental sector reforms, which mean that Landlords’ legal responsibilities are increasing and workloads growing.

What are the current regulations?

All Landlords have a legal responsibility to ensure that the electrical installations in their property are safe. At the moment however, there is no legal obligation to have them certified.

What will the new regulations be?

The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 will require Landlords to have all fixed electrical installations inspected at least every five years by a qualified person and keep a copy of the report on file. There are no additional regulations proposed regarding PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) on Kettles or Toasters etc.

Two important dates for your diary.

Landlords will need to have all electrical installations tested and provide all tenants with a valid report prior to the start of a tenancy for all NEW tenancies starting on or after 1st July 2020. This will extend to ALL tenancies on 1st April 2021.

Why haven’t Landlords needed an Electrical Safety Report before now?

Electrical Safety Regulations have always been a consideration and we have always recommended them to our Landlords. The reason regulations haven’t been proposed before is quite simply because of concerns that there weren’t sufficient resources / capacity in the supply chain to complete such a major undertaking. Only now is the government satisfied that Electrical engineers can meet the demand and the new regulations introduced.

Our advice: please don’t leave the ESR testing in your properties until the last minute, as we anticipate a big take up and a lot of demand.

If you would like to discuss the above in more detail or have any queries, please contact any member of our Lettings team who would be delighted to help.

Phone: 020 8858 0200

Email: info@brownandbrooke.co.uk

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