It’s pretty widely know that landlords must have a gas safety check carried out on their let properties each year, and the penalties for failing to do so can be severe, but what about electrical checks?
The Repairing Standard set out in the Housing (Scotland
In my view it would be much better to set out a clear certification requirement, as with gas. “Reasonable” is far too wooly a measure for electricity - a silent, odourless and potentially lethal force, and we have had clients who have used that wooliness to try to dissuade us from doing what we consider necessary to ensure electrical safety. Unbelievably, there’s no reference at all in the Repairing Standard to the clear need to ensure that the electrical installation and appliances are safe. That is a straightforward duty of care irrespective of statute.
A worst case scenario, hopefully unlikely but nevertheless perfectly possible, is a dead tenant and a landlord in the dock trying to convince the sheriff that he has fulfilled his statutory obligation. In the absence of reasonably recent expert certification, he is likely to have difficulty doing so. A more probable case is that your tenant is subjected to an electric shock, which would show you to be at least pretty inept and which might lead to a compensation claim and all the hassle entailed in that.
We once had a client who replaced an inoperative washing machine with a washer/dryer he had himself been using for a few years. The dryer function didn’t work but then, said our client, "the tenants didn’t have a dryer before anyway” We had sympathy with that observation but had to point out that, under the Repairing Standard, any appliance provided by a landlord has to be in reasonable repair and proper working order. He was happy to run the risk on that one, but we insisted that the replacement machine underwent a portable appliance test. “Why?” said our client. “I’ve been using it for years and I know it’s safe” “How can you be certain?” we responded. “Because I’ve never had a shock from it”.
The machine failed a Portable Appliance Test on the earth leakage measure, and by quite a long way. Just to complete the tale, we were instructed by our client to remove the “Do not Use” label forthwith. Needless to say, we declined, and he’s no longer a client.
It’s simple really: You should have the electrical installation checked every 5 years by a Select electrician. Ask for a Periodic Inspection Report. You should also implement any recommendations in the report. Similarly, have anything with a plug on it put through an annual Portable Appliance Test (PAT). This will show up any propensity to give users a shock well before they actually get one. That’s infinitely better than our former client’s method of presumably waiting until he received a shock! Keep the reports and receipts for any expenditure on remedial works in your file so that you can lay your hands on them easily if requirerd.
That testing regime should ensure that your tenants always have safe use of electrical appliances and fittings. If something goes wrong however and there’s a mishap (or even a fraudulent claim) and your tenant sues for compensation, you can wave your electrical reports aloft in court and demonstrate that you have indeed taken measures to ensure that the installation and appliances were safe.
I’d like to see our legislators introduce that certification requirement and remove the scope for confusion.
You can download a copy of the "Landlord's Guide to Electrical Safety in Scotland" here.
You can download a copy of the "Landlord's Guide to Electrical Safety in Scotland" here.
