Myth-busting – Electrical Safety installations Act 2020

Myth-busting – Electrical Safety installations Act 2020

11:19 AM, 3rd August 2020, About 4 years ago 129

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The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 came into force on 1 June 2020 and will apply to all new tenancies in England from 1 July 2020.

Thanks to Bill Stiles from Adept Electrical – http://www.adeptelectrical.co.uk/ for this simple myth-busting session on the new electrical standards. If your electrician has told you that you need a new fuse board then watch this video first.

This is especially important for HMO’s as councils are now asking for these reports when applying for a licence and if the person is not qualified they are rejecting inspection reports leading to the landlord having to pay for a second report.

These new regulations require landlords to have the electrical installations in their properties inspected at least every 5 years and tested by a person who is qualified and competent. Landlords will also have to provide a copy of the electrical safety report to their tenants as well as to the local authority if requested. For most landlords in the private rented sector, this will not require a change in behaviour. The majority of landlords already check their installations regularly, so they can provide the safest homes possible. However, to ensure every landlord can comply with these regulations, NAPIT have produced the following guidance on the requirements.

The regulations say: Private landlords must ensure every electrical installation in their residential premises is inspected and tested at intervals of no more than 5 years by a qualified and competent person. So look for someone part of NAPIT, NICEIC, Benchmark, OFTEC, STROMA, BESCA, ELECSA and APHC

The regulations apply in England to all new specified tenancies from 1 July 2020 and all existing specified tenancies from 1 April 2021. Following the inspection and testing, a private landlord must: obtain a report from the person conducting that inspection and test, which gives the results of the inspection and test and the date of the next inspection and test supply a copy of that report to each existing tenant of the residential premises within 28 days of the inspection and test supply a copy of that report to the local housing authority within 7 days of receiving a request in writing for it from that authority retain a copy of that report until the next inspection and test is due and supply a copy to the person carrying out the next inspection and test supply a copy of the most recent report to any new tenant of the specified tenancy to which the report relates before that tenant occupies those premises; and any prospective tenant within 28 days of receiving a request in writing for it from that prospective tenant

What ‘report’ should I be asking for?

The regulations just refer to a report being obtained by the person conducting the inspection and test. Typically, an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) is used within the industry for this purpose. An Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) is a report carried out to assess the safety of the existing electrical installation within a property and is used to describe its condition. Parts of the system that are reported on include consumer units, protective bonding, lighting, switches and sockets etc. Its purpose is to confirm as far as possible whether or not the electrical installation is in a safe condition for continued service. The EICR will show whether the electrical installation is in a ‘satisfactory’ or ‘unsatisfactory’ condition and will detail a list of observations affecting the safety or requiring improvements. These observations will be supported by codes.

Unsatisfactory Codes are: C1 – Danger present, risk of injury, immediate remedial action required

C2 – Potentially Dangerous, urgent remedial action required

FI – Further investigation required

A Satisfactory Code is:

C3 – Improvement recommended

Does my electrical installation need to comply with the 18th edition of the Wiring Regulations?

No- not if it is still deemed to be safe. The 18th edition of the Wiring Regulations states: “existing installations that have been installed in accordance with earlier editions of the regulations may not comply with this edition in every respect. This does not necessarily mean that they are unsafe for continued use or require upgrading”.


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Comments

Jireh Homes

13:18 PM, 28th August 2020, About 4 years ago

Costs for EICR will typically vary, depending on the type and size of property (from 1 bed flats to large houses) and hence number of circuits and outlets to be checked out. So to judge if a quote is low or high, it should be qualified. Likewise but to a lesser degree the cost of replacing (or upgrading) the Consumer Unit.

Epping John

13:55 PM, 28th August 2020, About 4 years ago

I have just received a quote for £2000 worth of electrical work for an electrical safety certificate on an early 1980's house. About half the quoted work is to replace the existing fuse boxes with RCDs (C2 stuff?) and the other half for C3 work. Could someone please help and tell me if this is absolutely necessary?

2391

18:44 PM, 28th August 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Epping John at 28/08/2020 - 13:55
A board does not have to be fitted with rcds to be safe. C3s, which an existing board is anyway, is "improvement" I would ask for a breakdown, this price seems unreasonable. By the way, virtually anything can be "improved," but we know that, don't we!

Epping John

19:55 PM, 28th August 2020, About 4 years ago

Thank you for this but each electrician I talk to says the RCDs and C3 work is necessary. Can you please suggest how I can get around this?

Porky

22:22 PM, 28th August 2020, About 4 years ago

A seperate 30 mA RCD can be fitted between the meter and the consumer unit without having to replace the whole consumer unit if it doesn't have an inbuilt RCD. That should be a much cheaper fix.
C3s are not essential so you don't have to get these fixed.

2391

22:50 PM, 28th August 2020, About 4 years ago

2Reply to the comment left by Epping John at 28/08/2020 - 19:55OK, C3s are improvement recommended. Whether they are an improvement is debatable.
Rcds on a fuse board are C3s again improvement recommended, but with a caveat, if there are sockets/shower in a bathroom where their there is no supplementary bonding, and/or there are sockets which can be used outdoors, the upgrading is good practice.

Bill Stiles

8:34 AM, 29th August 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Porky at 28/08/2020 - 22:22
I have seen this on older installations and have passed it with a C3 comment ,the trouble is there is no discrimination so if there is a faulty circuit you will lose all the power that is why fuse boards have at least two trip switches .I would not recommend this at all. If the trip goes on a friday night ,you will have to sort it out straight away getting out a contractor out or having to go yourself. My view is don't make things harder for yourself,

Porky

9:07 AM, 29th August 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Bill Stiles at 29/08/2020 - 08:34
It's just a nice to have though rather than essential. You just pull all the fuses and or trip all circuits and put them on one by one to find which one it is that's causing the trip. Nine times out of ten it's going to be an appliance rather than the fixed wiring anyway but once you have fond the circuit then its easier to find the culprit. If its a neutral leak to ground then it gets a lot harder to isolate the fault.

Andrew

9:59 AM, 1st September 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by eicr at 28/08/2020 - 18:44
great advice EICR

Andrew

10:01 AM, 1st September 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Bill Stiles at 29/08/2020 - 08:34
Wise advice as usual Bill

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