Covid-19 Guidance
The Scottish Government has issued guidance for private landlords and letting agents to support them during these pandemic. If an electrical check is due in your property, you should make every effort to have this carried out, observing social distancing. You can find out more about this, and read all of the guidance on the government website.
Advice for Landlords
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.
As of 1st December 2015, under sections 13(4A) and 19B(4) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, private landlords in Scotland are 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 landlord is responsible for ensuring the person completing an EICR is suitably competent. Using a firm that is a member of an accredited registration scheme operated by a recognised body will give some degree of confidence that this has been achieved. In Scotland, this will usually mean that they are registered with NICEIC, a member firm of the Electrical Contractors' Association of Scotland (SELECT), or a member of the National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers (NAPIT).
Visit our portal to find an electrician in your local area: www.findanelectricianscotland.com
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.
You may have a copy of an Electrical Installation Certificate rather than an EICR if:
- Your property is a new build
- The property has been fully rewired.
If you have an Electrical Installation Certificate, you can provide this to demonstrate that your property complies with the new guidance, provided that the date of the next inspection indicated on the certificate has not elapsed.
For more information on Electrical Installation Condition Reports, see our Condition Reports explained page.
The PAT test covers any movable electrical equipment that the landlord has provided as part of the tenancy (refrigerators, toasters, TVs, etc.) and must be carried out by either a registered electrician or any person who has completed appropriate training as a PAT Tester (which can include the landlord)
Anything that fails to pass the electrical safety inspection or PAT test must be replaced or repaired immediately.
Find out more
Read the full guidance for landlords on the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) webpage.
Check out our Landlords Guide for more free advice and guides on electrical safety in rental properties.