New UK Electrical Safety Standards for tenancies start today

New UK electrical safety standards rules affecting agents, landlords and tenants swing into force today.

The regulations, which applied to new tenancies from July last year, extend to existing tenancies from today.

During inspections, electricians will find out if:

• any electrical installations are overloaded
• there are any potential electric shock risks and fire hazards
• there is any defective electrical work
• there is a lack of earthing or bonding – these are two ways of preventing electrical shocks that are built into electrical installations

Timothy Douglas, Policy and Campaigns Manager, Propertymark, said agents need to be aware of the regulations, which set out the requirements for landlords to ensure all fixed electrical installations are maintained correctly. Regulations do not cover appliances.

"Importantly, due to the impact of the pandemic, where work is unable to be carried out, letting agents should document all activity relating to arranging, planning and scheduling work," he said.

"Creating a paper trail of communication between tenants, landlords and electricians will help safeguard agents against any enforcement activity in order to show they have done everything they can to comply."

If a landlord is found to not have complied with the law and no attempt to has been made to complete necessary remedial work that was identified, they could face a fine of up to £30,000, according to Electrical Safety First.

The campaigning charity has produced a Q&A for checks in privately rented homes (click here).