Landlords & Homeowners

Part P of the Building Regulations (England & Wales)

In January 2005, the Government introduced electrical safety rules for dwellings into the Building Regulations for England and Wales. Because of this, most fixed electrical installation work carried out in homes must, by law, meet the Building Regulations.

Part P states that ‘reasonable provision shall be made in the design and installation of electrical installations in order to protect persons operating, maintaining or altering the installations from fire or injury’.

Landlords and Tenant Act 1985

The Landlords and Tenants Act 1985 requires that the electrical installation in a rented property is:

• safe when a tenancy begins and
• maintained in a safe condition throughout the tenancy.

The Landlords and Tenants Act 1985 makes it an implied term of every tenancy that the landlord will ‘keep in repair the structure and exterior’ of the property and ‘keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling-house for the supply of water, gas and electricity, and for sanitation, space heating and heating water. The landlord cannot make the tenant responsible for these repairs.

How does this affect you?

It is your responsibility to ensure the above requirement is met and continues to be met.

Periodic Inspection, Testing & Reporting

Every electrical installation deteriorates with use and age. It is important that you ensure that your tenant(s) are not put at risk, by ensuring that the electrical installation continues to be in a safe and serviceable condition. A Periodic Inspection is an inspection on the condition of an existing electrical installation, to identify (in order of priority) any deficiencies against the National Standard, BS 7671, for the safety of electrical installations.

A periodic inspection should:

• reveal if any of your electrical circuits or equipment are overloaded,
• find any potential electrical shock risks and fire hazards in your elec trical installation,
• identify any defective DIY electrical work,
• highlight any lack of earthing or bonding, and
• identify departures from the National standard (BS 7671).