Tenants are a nightmare for allowing workman in – EICR?

Tenants are a nightmare for allowing workman in – EICR?

10:11 AM, 3rd November 2020, About 4 years ago 24

Text Size

From April 2021 I will need to get an Electrical Condition Report -as the rules have changed and this is needed for existing tenants. The problem I have is that my tenants are a nightmare for allowing workman into the property.

Previously, the EICR was done (or at least obtained) by the tenant’s brother, but the brother only got it for 18 months (via a “mate”). I don’t really want to pay the tenant’s brother a whole load of money – just to get a certificate for 18 months.

So my options are:
a) End tenancy – as they don’t want another electrician to come in and do the work and then re-let once work has been done and the certificate is issued.
b) See if the Brother can get 5-year certificate
c) Get tenants to confirm in writing that they are happy with the electrics as they are (I should point out the electrics were redone in the 1980s – but a previous electrician that came to do the ECR – said electric were old, the wrong colour wiring – my understanding is this changed in 2004 and needed upgrading) and they will not allow any electrician to come into the property to issue a ECR let alone do the upgrade work.

Can anyone help – can I tell the Council that my tenants will not allow access.

Many Thanks

Steve


Share This Article


Comments

Landlord Phil

11:37 AM, 8th November 2020, About 3 years ago

Malcolm is bang on. I'm lucky as my mate is my sparky. He's absolutely straight down the line & notes that the rules are subject to interpretation. Its true that a spark can interpret them to his advantage if he's looking for work. I think it's best we understand the rules so we can decipher what a spark says. 40 year old electrics can pass the test so anyone that's says otherwise needs a google review of their advice. If you get a fail that you're not happy with, I'd say until the its law to have the certificate, get another spark to do a test. It's cheaper than a rewire. I'm lucky, I trust my spark, and he's busy, so doesn't need the hassle of rewiring a tenanted property. But not every one of them is that trustworthy. I would say get this sorted asap to allow for the possibility of rogues. And when you find a good one, stick with him. The good ones aren't cheap but will save you money in the long term.

Badger

19:09 PM, 11th November 2020, About 3 years ago

These points have been made before - both in this thread and elsewhere in other threads but it is not always as clear as it might be to the uninitiated.

1) The 18th edition of the regulations explicitly states that work done to the standards laid out in previous editions of the regs, provided it remains safe in accordance with the standards at the time, is NOT a fail. Landlords need to keep this fact clearly front and centre in their minds when interpreting info being received from electricians.

2) Unlike previous generations of cable modern PVC cables (in use since the 1960s) is not subject to significant deterioration over time so any suggestion that it needs to be changed due to its age is basically nonsense. PVC cable will typically stiffen up a little over many many years but only very rarely does this get to the point where it becomes brittle and thus dangerous - unlike earlier generations of cable technology. Undisturbed cable that has been securely fixed since original installation is unlikely to have become hazardous. There are exceptions however and chief amongst these, in order of occurrence, are cables exposed to decades of UV from sunlight, heat (for example from running too close to cooking appliances), flex due to inadequate fixing, or abrasion. All of these might be a good reason for a specific affected cable to be replaced. Only very rarely indeed would such situations mandate a full rewire.

3) One thing that emphatically does NOT mandate a rewire is having cable in the old red, black, and green livery no matter what any electrician tries to tell you.

All of which having been said, it is nevertheless quite (very) likely that a first EICR on a 1980s property will turn up a list of issues that it will be necessary to attend to.

It's just that the fact that the PVC cables are original is not one of them.

Landlord Phil

19:20 PM, 11th November 2020, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Badger at 11/11/2020 - 19:09
Spot on Badger. Well said. I'm classified as qualified to "conpetancy" NVQ level, but not everyone has this advantage. I can question & interpret what I'm advised of, so I'm in a very fortunate position. My advice remains solid. Get a recommendation of a good spark. Pay a decent amount. A good spark is a busy spark that won't need to generate work. So what if you have to wait a couple of weeks, stand the wait. When you find one that you can communicate with well, this is the one to stick with. I'd much rather wait a little, pay a couple of quid more & get it right first time than risk an unknown. Same goes for Gas Safe engineers. Surprisingly, they get things wrong too. I know, it happened to me. Thankfully it wasn't the most dangerous of issues, but the fact is my unknown commodity made a mistake.

steve p

0:13 AM, 30th November 2020, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Landlord Phil at 11/11/2020 - 19:20
Spot on. Im an electrician and get calls from landlords and rarely get the work as they want it cheap and im not the cheapest.

Thing is what I charge pays for my time, those doing it cheap will find work that will make up for how little they charge. Or alternativly they will tell u work that does not need doing needs doing. Or worst of all do minimal testing and make up the results.

Make sure you hire an electrician who is certified as an inspector to make sure you meet your legal resposibilities

Leave Comments

In order to post comments you will need to Sign In or Sign Up for a FREE Membership

or

Don't have an account? Sign Up

Landlord Tax Planning Book Now