What does the changes in the PRS mean for landlord and tenants?
A (long overdue in my opinion) change has come to the PRS which now means "These new Regulations require landlords to have the electrical installations in their properties inspected and tested by a person who is qualified and competent, at an interval of at least every 5 years. Landlords have to provide a copy of the electrical safety report to their tenants, and to their local authority if requested."
What this mean is that electrical checks are now required in this sector and any property that is rented must comply to certain regulations and I can say (having carried out over 200 EICR's this year) that it is long overdue. Now if you are going to rent a property you can have faith that your electrics will not be checked by a qualified electrician and they will be deemed to be safe for 5 years if they are checked by ourselves.
Some companies will certify them for as little as 6 months, which we do not agree with, if the system will not be safe in 6 months then how can you really say they will be safe for those 6 months? If we can not put our hand on our hearts and say they will be safe for at least 5 years (failing issues with tenants working on the system or untrained professionals) then how can we say they are truely safe for yourself and your loved ones?
From having performed a lot of safety checks we have found that there are a few issues that are common, with us testing against the guidance from Best Practice Guide 4 edition 5 bpg4-1.pdf (electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk) it shows you the classification codes of observations of an electrical system, C1 meaning ‘Danger present’. Risk of injury. Immediate remedial action required/ C2 meaning '‘Potentially dangerous’. Urgent remedial action required/ C3 meaning ‘Improvement recommended’ and FI meaning ‘Further investigation required’.
As a quick break down C1 needs addressing before any electrician leaves site, either isolating the circuit involved (highly impractical in most situations) or rectifying the issue before leaving the site, C2 means there is a high likelihood that the issue found could cause harm if the issue is not address, C3 means that the issue found is not ideal but could do with addressing (much like an advisory on an MOT) but does not pose any immediate danger and may just not comply with current regulations, FI means that an issue has been found but the electrician can not determine the exact cause of the site so will need to return to determine this (usually within 28 days but as soon as practicably possibe) before he can deem the system safe to continue to be put into service and issue a satisfactory certificate.
The most common issues usually stem from (but not only from) the consumer unit. If you have an old 3036 rewireable consumer unit you may aswell get used to the fact it will have to be upgraded as any circuits supplying sockets with the potential to be used outside (arguably the majority of socket circuits in <2 storey builds (you'd be surprised how many tenants have hung an extension lead out of a window of a flat) will not comply with this regulation) and any circuits supplying a special location (bathrooms now that kitchens have been downgraded) which includes showers, lights, fans, heaters etc, need to be protected by an RCD.
An RCD is a new protective device that, rather than just working on overload like previous fused devices, monitors the live and the neutral to detect any imbalance and (if working correctly) will disconnect the circuit within 400ms to save any excessive voltage passing outside of the system (30Ma is what they are generally rated to which relates to approximately 50v, anything over 50v is deemed to be above touch voltage and potentially fatal).
The next common issue is on ring final circuits, due to the nature of their design ring final circuits can handle a greater current than the cable is meant to handle (2.5mm cable can handle 27amps in good conditions but as a ring it is fused at 32amps). As electricians we need to guarantee the intergrity of the cable, that is one of our main aims, so we need to determine that the fuse (fuse wire, MCB, RCBO) will disconnect the circuit before there is any chance of the cable overloading (and setting on fire). So if there is a break in any connection or cable on a ring final circuit then you are effectively creating 2 circuits that can not handle the current that can potentially flow through them so this becomes a C2/FI and needs addressing.
A final common issue is the lack of bonding to your water or gas systems. Bonding these systems helps bring them to the same potential as your electrical system so in the event of a fault you're less likely to get a potentially fatal shock.
I read recently that an electrician is "someone who will fix a fault you never knew you had, in a way you might not understand" and I have to say I agree, you can't feel, smell or see it until it's an issue so don't leave until it is an issue. We ask for your faith in what we do and we won't take that for granted.
