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When it comes to electrical safety, everyone must follow best practices and guidelines that can keep them and their loved ones safe in and around the property.
Tenants, landlords, and employers must ensure that they not only follow the safety precautions recommended under the British Standards but also the duties outlined by law.
Electrical safety is a matter of legality and compliance, adherence to which is absolutely crucial, unless you want to face thousands of pounds in fines, repayment orders, invalid insurances, and even prosecution.
In this guide, we will look at the differences between landlord, tenant, and employer electrical duties, what to look out for, and how to ensure maximum electrical efficiency:
When it comes to hazards in the home or workplace, injuries caused by electrical issues rank as some of the worst. They not only cause bodily harm, but electrical hazards can also lead to fire, which can devastate the property as well.
In fact, throughout the early history of the UK, especially with the widespread adoption of electricity, there were numerous fire reports, so much so that it forced legislators to come up with new and highly specific regulations just for governing electrical safety.
The British Standards were part of the new legislation and outlined all the important best practices or “duties” that needed to be followed by tenants, landlords, and employers to maintain the safety of occupants in a property.
These duties play a vital role in prevention. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), every year around 100 accidents involving electric shocks and burns are reported in the UK, out of which approximately 30 are fatal.
To sum it up, you must be careful about electrical safety because:
Let’s dive deeper into the responsibilities of each and explore the duties according to the following categories:
As a landlord, you will have the strongest responsibility towards a rented property. You must ensure that you routinely have fixtures checked and that all electrical installations are safe in your property.
This includes checking:
On average, you will have to inspect your property every 5 years by a qualified and trained technician, like the ones provided by Calder Electrical.
You must also make sure that the installation or maintenance company has the necessary certifications and accreditations and that they can provide you with a comprehensive Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR).
Not following the regulations can result in fines up to £30,000, rent repayment orders, void insurance, and even criminal prosecution if someone is injured due to negligence.
As a tenant, you will not be responsible for the wiring, but you will be held accountable for how it is used while you are occupying a rented property. Therefore, the onus is on you to ensure maximum electrical safety, especially if you live with a family.
Electrical hazards can be dangerous, so it’s best to always be on the lookout for them and to fix them immediately before they cause harm to anyone.
As a basic rule of thumb, tenant duties revolve around:
Typically, tenants are responsible for their own plug-in devices and appliances. They must ensure that they are using every electrical component appropriately and are using safety precautions where needed.
If there is any damage caused to the electrical system due to the tenant’s fault, then they will be responsible for it. They will also be responsible for any unsafe equipment they bring into their home. This can include faulty chargers, extension cords, light fixtures, and more.
However, tenants will not be responsible for the electrical infrastructure of the property. This includes:
If there is an issue with the infrastructure of the property, then the tenant must inform the landlord immediately. The landlord will be responsible for conducting thorough checks periodically (within 5 years).
This test is crucial because it can outline faults and can help the landlord fix issues before they become an electrical or fire hazard. Failing to follow the regulations will lead to prosecution, especially if a hazard takes place due to negligence.
Employer electrical duties are much more stringent than landlord duties because employers are responsible for a whole host of occupants, such as employees, staff, visitors, and clients.
The main law governing employer duty states that employers must ensure that all electrical systems and equipment are always completely safe.
This includes ensuring the safety of:
Typically, employers must routinely:
Due to the scale of businesses and commercial properties, employers seek out help from electrical installation and service providers such as Calder Electrical. These providers can conduct periodic assessments and help repair or replace components that need attention.
It is important to note that there is no 5-year grace period for employers. The best employers will ensure electrical safety every day! If an employer fails to fulfil their duties, they can face a whole range of problems that include:
Electrical hazards typically don’t show up unannounced; they show signs, much like the human body that shows symptoms that hint towards issues. This is why landlords, employers and even tenants to some degree need to ensure that the electrical wiring and installations are in good condition.
The main difference between the duties is that tenants are responsible for how they use the electrical infrastructure, while employers and landlords are responsible for the installation and infrastructure itself.
This means that they need to conduct periodic assessments and have highlighted issues fixed at the earliest.
In the UK, the most common causes of electrical hazards come from:
Tenants must focus on reporting issues at the earliest, while employers and landlords must focus on conducting periodic reviews of the electrical infrastructure and fixing issues before they become a problem.
As mentioned above, the electrical duties of employers are of utmost importance and are heavily scrutinised. Employer duties are important enough that they have their own legislation.
The Electricity at Work Regulations apply to all employers and self-employed individuals in the workplace. This legislation also includes the employees who must do their best in cooperating with their employers to make the workplace a safe place for themselves and others.
The Electricity at Work Regulations cover the following:
Employers have a legal responsibility under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, while landlords have a legal obligation under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020.
These duties highlight protocols to protect occupants and employees from all kinds of safety and security threats, including those arising from faulty electrical wiring and installations.
Instead of dealing with these issues themselves, landlords and employers can have the electrical infrastructure regularly checked and inspected by a certified and professional electrician.
Commercial electrical testing and inspection, also called periodic electrical inspection, is carried out in accordance with the BS 7671 wiring regulations. These regulations ensure a detailed check-up of the electrical systems on your property to find out if they are compliant with all the regulations.
Periodic electrical inspections are carried out to:
Tenants must also be mindful of conducting visual inspections if they notice problems in the infrastructure. Visual inspections involve looking for signs of damage and deterioration.
Tenants must focus on highlighting damages to any part of the plug, fuses, and wires connected incorrectly, exposed wiring, and discolouration of any sockets. Ideally, this should be done every 6 to 12 months by tenants, landlords, and employers.
Landlords and employers must focus on detailed inspections and portable appliance testing (PAT). These tests can help highlight issues in the infrastructure and help maintain the safety of the property and its occupants.
Detailed inspections refer to the detailed routine check-up of the electrical systems in a property and are carried out by certified and professional electricians using high-quality equipment throughout the process to detect faults and minimise electricity-related hazards.
Detailed inspections by a professional technician can identify damage, defects, or deterioration that may have been missed in the initial checks. These thorough inspections are typically conducted every 3 to 5 years.
These inspections lead to the generation of an EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report), which provides a detailed summary of the conditions of the electrical systems as per the British Standards BS 7671.
Technicians can also highlight vulnerabilities or potential issues in the EICR and provide recommendations where improvements may be required for safety.
If you are looking for a registered electrician for the installation, maintenance, and inspection of your property’s electrical system, look no further.
We offer a wide range of services to meet the demands of our clients, which include all aspects of domestic, commercial, and industrial installations, along with testing services for all kinds of properties.
All our work is fully insured, and we work to meet the standards set to us by the NICEIC to make sure all your electrical installations meet the current regulations and all the notifiable work is signed off by the local authorities.
If you have unplanned issues within your home or business, we can provide a call-out service to rectify and solve any problems. Anything from circuits tripping, loss of power, broken items that need repairing, or checking if you feel something is unsafe or a potential hazard.
Our team can generate a Visual Inspection Report (VIR) to identify anything visual that does not comply with the standards or looks unsafe, as well as a full Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR), where we will identify and test each circuit to make sure they are not deteriorating and are safe for use.
We can also provide PAT testing of appliances to make sure that any items such as kettles, computers, and microwaves are safe for use in the home and workplace.
We have been undertaking electrical work since 1976 and are specialists in all aspects of electrical work. Our services include:
Contact us here or call us on 0800 612 3001 for more information on the differences between landlord, tenant, and employer electrical duties and how to ensure maximum electrical safety and efficiency.
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