From 1st December 2015, private landlords are responsible for ensuring that an electrical safety inspection of their property is carried out by a registered electrician at least every five years.
The new legislation explained
As of 1st December 2015, under sections 13(4A) and 19B(4) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, private landlords in Scotland will be required by law to ensure that their properties are electrically safe.
This covers:
- Any installations in the property for the supply of electricity
- Electrical fixtures and fittings
- Any appliances provided by the landlord under the tenancy.
Landlords must be able to prove that all of the above are in a reasonable state of repair and in proper working order.
So what do landlords need to do?
Landlords are required to ensure that regular electrical safety inspections are carried out by a competent person, and that anything that fails to pass the inspection is replaced or repaired immediately.
As a minimum, an electrical safety inspection must be carried out:
- Before a tenancy starts, and
- During the tenancy, at intervals of no more than five years from the date of the previous inspection.
A copy of the most recent electrical safety inspection reports must be provided to both new and retained tenants.
The person who conducts the checks must be employed by a firm that is a member of an accredited registration scheme operated by a body recognised by the Scottish Government – this will usually mean that they are registered with NICEIC or a member firm of the Electrical Contractors’ Association of Scotland (SELECT).
Both the NICEIC and the Electrical Contractors' Association of Scotland (SELECT) provide online tools for finding local members.
Transitional Rules
the Scottish government guidelines details the transitional rules for the scheme.
- It requires any new tenant to receive an EICR if they take up their tenancy after the 1st December 2015.
- Any existing tenant to receive a copy of an EICR before the 1st December 2016 (unless their tenancy will end before that date).
- If an EICR (or new installation certificate) is available for the property that was produced since 1st January 2012, this is still in its perceived 5 year lifecycle this is still valid (for 5 years from issue). These do not need any PAT report.
- Any EICR produced after 1st December 2015 will also need Appliance test reports.
What happens during the electrical safety inspection?
An electrical safety inspection has two parts:
- An Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) – formerly known as a Periodic Inspection Report (PIR) – on the safety of the electrical installations, fixtures and fittings.
- A Portable Appliance Test (PAT) on any portable appliances that you have provided by the landlord.
For the Electrical Installation Condition Report, the registered electrician will carry out checks of installations for the supply of electricity, electrical fittings (including but not limited to switches, sockets and light fittings) and fixed electrical equipment (including but not limited to boilers, panel and storage heaters and hard-wired smoke and fire detectors).
As a result, the electrician will produce an EICR document that highlights any problems using different classifications: code C1 indicating ‘danger present’, code C2 indicating ‘potentially dangerous’ and code FI indicating ‘further investigation required’. Any remedial work that is undertaken as a result of the inspection will then be recorded on a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate.
