Landlord electrical safety certificate

The problem with the new landlord regs is that they are very badly drafted (since they're not primary legislation, they haven't been scrutinised by a parliamentary committee - just drafted by civil servants and signed off by a minister).


They place four main obligations on a landlord.


1) at all times while rented out, the electrics must comply with BS7671:2018. This means no plastic CUs, no EV chargers using the new protection measures in amendment 1, no inaccessible junctions that are not MF, etc. There is no wiggle room here as far as I can see just because parts of the installation are pre-2018. Conversely there is no obligation (under these regs at least) for the installation to actually be safe, just that they comply.


2) There needs to be a test and inspection at specified intervals by a qualified person. It says nothing about the scope of this, nor that it needs to be T&Ied against BS7671:2018, nor that it needs to be T&Ied for safety. The T&C could be literally anything agreed between the landlord and the inspector. However given the strict requirement of (1), the landlord would be well advised to request an inspection that looks for an deviations from BS7671:2018.


3) The results of that T&I have to be produced as a report and given to various people under various circumstances.


4) If the report happens to identify anything which deviates from BS7671:2018, the landlord has typically 28 days to get it fixed. Note however that this doesn't oblige the T&I to look for such deviations.


So, should inpectors fail plastic CUs, and should landlords get them replaced with metal ones? The answer to the first is down to what was agreed with the inspector; the answer to the second is that to be completely safe from prosecution the landlord should replace it. Now it may happen that once this has settled down and been through various courts and precedents established, that it will become clear that plastic CUs etc remain ok. But until that time the landlord is taking a risk. Guidance from various government departments and safety oganisations which contradict the regs (e.g. by saying that existing plastic CUs are ok) might help a landlord win their case at tribunal or in court, but there's no guarantee.

The problem with the new landlord regs is that they are very badly drafted (since they're not primary legislation, they haven't been scrutinised by a parliamentary committee - just drafted by civil servants and signed off by a minister).


They place four main obligations on a landlord.


1) at all times while rented out, the electrics must comply with BS7671:2018. This means no plastic CUs, no EV chargers using the new protection measures in amendment 1, no inaccessible junctions that are not MF, etc. There is no wiggle room here as far as I can see just because parts of the installation are pre-2018. Conversely there is no obligation (under these regs at least) for the installation to actually be safe, just that they comply.


2) There needs to be a test and inspection at specified intervals by a qualified person. It says nothing about the scope of this, nor that it needs to be T&Ied against BS7671:2018, nor that it needs to be T&Ied for safety. The T&C could be literally anything agreed between the landlord and the inspector. However given the strict requirement of (1), the landlord would be well advised to request an inspection that looks for an deviations from BS7671:2018.


3) The results of that T&I have to be produced as a report and given to various people under various circumstances.


4) If the report happens to identify anything which deviates from BS7671:2018, the landlord has typically 28 days to get it fixed. Note however that this doesn't oblige the T&I to look for such deviations.


So, should inpectors fail plastic CUs, and should landlords get them replaced with metal ones? The answer to the first is down to what was agreed with the inspector; the answer to the second is that to be completely safe from prosecution the landlord should replace it. Now it may happen that once this has settled down and been through various courts and precedents established, that it will become clear that plastic CUs etc remain ok. But until that time the landlord is taking a risk. Guidance from various government departments and safety oganisations which contradict the regs (e.g. by saying that existing plastic CUs are ok) might help a landlord win their case at tribunal or in court, but there's no guarantee.