Catherine West – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of mandatory electrical safety checks for dwellings in the private rented sector.

Brandon Lewis

Landlords are already under a general legal duty to ensure that electrical installations in the property are safe and kept in good working order. The Government published the How to Rent guide which recommends that electrical installations are checked every 5 years. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ Code of Practice on the letting and management of property makes clear that landlords must repair and keep in proper working order installations for the supply of electricity. In addition, local authorities already have strong powers to deal with unsafe property conditions and we expect them to be used.

The Government believes that the current regulatory framework, which puts a duty on landlords to ensure electrical installations in the property are safe, provides an adequate level of protection. We do not, therefore, have any plans to introduce a requirement for regular checks. However, we will keep the situation under review.