Following a consultation published back in February, the government has published tough new powers to crack down on bad practices. The government will also be looking to make electrical safety checks mandatory.
What are the current Regulations?
Currently the existing regulatory requirements are:
What’s Changing?
The government has laid further regulations under the Housing and Planning Act 2016 to start the process of enforcing the requirement for all landlords to carry out electrical safety checks.
From 25 October 2019 the provisions of the Act relating to electrical safety checks will come into force.
This does not mean that landlord electrical safety checks will be mandatory then. The power will simply let the Secretary of State make regulations about how those checks will occur. However, those regulations should be expected not long afterwards and are likely to come into force sometime next year.
What does this mean for me as a landlord?
This means that once the new regulations are published it will be mandatory for all rental sector landlords to hold an electrical safety certificate for each property. The certificates will have to be issued every 5 years.
The penalties can lead to a hefty fine and prosecution.
For detailed information, please visit the government website…https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/electrical-safety-in-the-private-rented-sector