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Landlord electrical safety certificate

Grumpy
Hi all, my father in law has a rental property that was completely rewired and with new split load CU five years ago. The installation is now due an inspection. Will the fact that the CU is plastic constitute a "fail"?

  • 0
    Does the cupboard under the stairs fit the description of being constructed of non-combustible materials?


    Is the wood work of the underside of the stairs covered with plaster board and skim?


    Is there a fire resistant door on the cupboard in a fire resistant partition?


    If the plastic consumer unit is burning will the fire be contained within the cupboard?


    Andy Betteridge
  • 0
    We could desist from calling it a "Landlord electrical safety certificate" if it is an "Electrical installation condition report".


    Therefore the regulations governing the issue of an (18th edition) EICR and the required actions following it apply.
  • 0
    geoffsd:

    We could desist from calling it a "Landlord electrical safety certificate" if it is an "Electrical installation condition report".


    Therefore the regulations governing the issue of an (18th edition) EICR and the required actions following it apply.


    The legislation doesn't actually refer to an EICR, it calls it "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".  It's really vague as to what inspection and testing should be carried out.


  • 0
    My wife (a registered Landlord, since we are in Wales) owns a property which she rents out through a registered Agent. Gulp, the consumer unit is plastic and beneath the stairs. The property is similar to our own next door.  The rented property was rewired late 1990s, by a NICEIC, (I think) electrician and following purchase by my wife has given an EICR by a registered electrician who also did the new kitchen electrics.


    So, if at the property's first Rental check get a fail for the consumer unit by whoever the Agent employs, in Wales it is up to the Agent.... where would move it to?


    Our own property next door, when we had it rewired in 2002, we chose to have the meter moved to a through the wall box (about £700 by MANWEB-SP) and a 10 metre or so sub-main to the garage via a switch fuse (under the stairs! at least it is metal). With a suspended ground floor this was easy, but the rented property next door has a solid floor and no real other location other than to be put in a meter box outside! Which I do not consider to be a good idea for a few reasons.


    So what is the greater risk, a plastic consumer unit under the stairs or a multi-way junction box in its place so as to enable the extension of lighting, ring, cooker cables etc to a safer place.  Maybe change to a metal consumer unit in same location, but otherwise seems a backward step.  Our own house of course has a plastic consumer unit of 2002 vintage.

    Clive








  • 0
    nothing precludes a  metal box around the plastic one  may not be the electrician's preferred solution, as it makes no new work for him/her  but easy to show it now meets the regs.
  • 0
    Long before the BS7671 requirement for reducing the risks of fires in consumer units the local council required fuse boards with re-wirable fuses in HMOs to be enclosed in a non-combustible cupboard or replaced.


    I also replaced a fuse board with re-wirable fuses in a cupboard on the stairs of a small hotel because the fire brigade failed it on an inspection.


    So I was replacing old fuse boards with new consumer units with plastic enclosures long before the requirements to reduce the fire risks were introduced in BS7671, because the council or fire brigade insisted on it.


    However some of those old fuse boards were enclosed in non-combustible cupboards and still comply with 421.1.201 (ii) now. It is not just about what the enclosures are made of it also depends on the location.


    Andy B.
  • 0
    mapj1:

    nothing precludes a  metal box around the plastic one  may not be the electrician's preferred solution, as it makes no new work for him/her  but easy to show it now meets the regs.


    Quite, stick a tin box over it.


    Andy B.


  • 0
    Simon Barker:

    The legislation doesn't actually refer to an EICR, it calls it "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".  It's really vague as to what inspection and testing should be carried out.






    Yes, I realise that but unless they stipulate a list of items to be inspected, then all there is is an EICR - presumably a full one with no limitations.

    Whether knowingly or in ignorance, they have used the word 'report'.


    There is no such thing as a landlord safety certificate.  


  • 0
    geoffsd:
    Simon Barker:

    The legislation doesn't actually refer to an EICR, it calls it "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".  It's really vague as to what inspection and testing should be carried out.






    Yes, I realise that but unless they stipulate a list of items to be inspected, then all there is is an EICR - presumably a full one with no limitations.

    Whether knowingly or in ignorance, they have used the word 'report'.


    There is no such thing as a landlord safety certificate.  




    Actually, reading the legislation again, not only does it not stipulate a list of items to be inspected, but it doesn't even say that the report has to be an inspection against "the electrical safety standards".

    Seriously, it doesn't.  Read Section 3 - (1) (a) to (c) in the most pedantic way you can think of, rather than assuming it means what it ought to say.


  • 0
    Simon Barker:

    Actually, reading the legislation again, not only does it not stipulate a list of items to be inspected, but it doesn't even say that the report has to be an inspection against "the electrical safety standards".

    Seriously, it doesn't.  Read Section 3 - (1) (a) to (c) in the most pedantic way you can think of, rather than assuming it means what it ought to say.






    Does  3 - (1) (a) not say that?

    "(a) ensure that the electrical safety standards are met during any period when the residential premises(2) are occupied under a specified tenancy;"


    Then 3 - (3) (a) says a report must be obtained.


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