Securing Safer Homes
Following the home safety presentation for landlords given by NAPIT Business Relationship Director Ian Halton at a recent meeting of the Nuneaton and Bedworth and National Landlords Association forum, we detail how a NAPIT-led sub-group of leading electrical safety forum the Electrical Safety Roundtable is helping landlords to manage risk.
Letting a property can be a full-time commitment. Making repairs, dealing with tenants and ensuring you receive the rent each month can sometimes prove challenging.
One issue on this listthat shouldn’t be overlooked thoughis ensuring your property is safe to let.
Surprisingly, this is something many landlords fail to fully consider. In fact, around a third of properties in the private rented sector don’t meet the Government’s Decent Homes Standard.
Defusing hidden hazards
Most hazards are entirely avoidable if a schedule of appropriate checks is maintained.
Previously, no single point of reference has been available to detail your health and safety responsibilities in this regard. But, following a new initiative from the Electrical Safety Roundtable (ESR), this has changed.
With the support of insurance providers, landlord’s associations, mortgage lenders and trade associations, the leading industry forum hascreated a new time and potentially life-saving Home Safety Certificate, along with supporting checklists and guidance documents.
The documents are designed to provide an overview of importantindustry recommended checksas well as explicit and implied legal obligations that will help you follow anappropriateinspection schedule.
Navigating the legal landscape
But what are those obligations? Confusingly, this isn’t always clear cut.
All landlords are likely to know that a gas safety certificate is required each year. But many may not be aware of how frequently equivalent electrical safety checks should be carried out.
The Landlords and Tenants Act1985for instance states that short lease landlords must: “keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling-house [they let] for the supply of water, gas and electricity”, with no mention of regular checks.
The industry recommendation where electrics are concerned, and the recommendation specified on the Home SafetyCertificateto remove potential ambiguity,is for an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) to be carried out every five years, supported by an annual visual check that landlords can undertake themselves by following the Visual Guidance the ESR has created.
This brings much needed clarity to anotherwise uncertain area, and a similarly straightforward approach is taken with other specified requirements.
Home Safety Certificate
Among other important checks, the Home safety Certificate will allow you to recordan up-to-date:
- Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR)
- Visual electrical checklist
- Gas Safety Certificate
- Legionella risk assessment Falls prevention risk assessment
It also encourages regular checks to ensure compliance with legal requirements regardingpresence of working safety devices such as carbon monoxide and smoke alarms.For more information, and to download free Home Safety Certificates and supporting guidance documents, visit: