Landlord / Electrician advice reqd

The Northern Monkey

All,

We're with a private landlord and he is currently upgrading our fuse box.

When he spoke to us he said "I have recently trained as an electrician so will be bringing the fuse box up to spec".
He started yesterday and as far as I know he finished off today - even though the house was left as a tip.

Landlord questions:
1) Is he legally required to produce some sort of safety certificate similar to the gas certificate?
2) 2 lights must have blown at some point, should I expect the landlord to replace these?

Electrician questions:
1) What qualifications do you need to change a fuse box in a rented property?
2) After the 1st day, he had left a large cable sticking out of the wall under the stairs where the fuse box not connected to anything (but had covered the end with a bit of leccy tape). Now it may just be me, but the cable was a big thick one and seemed to be coming through the wall where the meter is located on the other side.
I've come home today and the cable is now curled up inside the concrete wall, I'm not sure if it is live or safe.
I know its vague, but shouldn't this be connected to the fuse box if it comes from the meter?
3) Would you advise to get his work checked? My bro in law is a fully qualified electrician and works for a housing company so is well qualified for this sort of stuff... only problem is he lives 230miles away!

I work in the energy industry, but not hands on. So I know that there are risks involved if things aren't done properly and I'm a bit nervous about what he's done.

Antm81

To work on consumer units (fuse boards) the person should have part P (full scope) or have their worked checked by someone who has.

In my opinion the full system should now be tested (there should be a small amount of testing to be done even if the whole system is not) as all the current test certificates which should be available as it's rented accommodation just as you'd expect to receive them when buying a house will now be out of date as the circuit protective devices will now be different.

If the cable is coming from the meter you would have no electricity right now but I would ask your land lord what it is for, as a qualified electrician he should know what circuit it's for e.g lighting and why it's not being used now.

Without having the worked by somebody who is full scope part P qualified building regs will have been broken, and by not having the work tested there will be a whole host of statutory regulations that will of been broken.

TheNorthernTrain

Should be in the crudcatcher. That way I could legitimately say lick it and find out.

I'll ask my mother, she is involved with all that sort of stuff, after all she works in lettings and deals with landlords electricians etc all the time.

The Northern Monkey

Cheers... been on the phone to my bro in law and he seems to think it sounds legit. We have power the the house so he thinks the other cable may a a supply to an old cooker or something.

Taken a few pics:

General pic.




The grey cable - as you can see from the marks on the wall, this one used to go into the fuse box. No idea what its connected to, but its the biggest cable around, about as thick as my middle finger.

Antm81

Does look like it's for an old cooker or something and would be pretty big ( I presume it's that size in total with more than one smaller cable coming out of the end). that is the highest quality of work I've seen however and all those circuit breakers that aren't labelled (which I presume is because that they aren't being used) shouldn't be in there, the gaps should be blanked off instead

I'm not sure what differences it being a letting makes, I'm sure it makes a few though, but as an electrician it will need testing and that isn't something you easily qualify to do, there are a lot of short courses as electricians which teach the basics but the big qualifications take years to do (2 years of mainly theory work for mine plus practical work on top)

To answer all your questions a bit more clearly.

1) yes there needs to be inspection and test certificates (States everything is done correctly and that if a fault occurs it will trip the breakers before causing serious injury)
2) I wouldn't expect a landlord to change the lamp (bulb) but if the fitting is faulty then that is their responsibility

1) Part P full scope
2)don't worry too much about it but ask
3) don't get it checked but find out if it's been tested by getting them to provide an up to date certificate, if not it needs to be tested (which you shouldn't be arranging or paying for)

The Northern Monkey

Brilliant thanks very much.

Yes the grey cable have a live, earth and neutral inside from what I could tell.

Been reading up, apparently he doesn't have to provide me with a electric safety certificate, its the owner of the house (him) that needs it. Its just the gas safety that the tenant requires from the Landlord.
There is a test date on the box and I know he's tested all the plugs so am pretty happy now that I know the grey cable is nothing to worry about!

Briggo

Legally as a landlord I do not have to get electrical inspections carried out on my property however it is my duty to ensure the property is safe for the tenants, ergo requiring electrical inspections to prove the property is safe.

After seeking advice on this it's deemed that the elec cert provided would last for a good while so long as nothing has changed to the circuits within the property, i.e. new lights put in or rewiring carried out by any persons that I employ to go in, if the tenant does anything to the electrics and it goes tits up it's their fault not mine.

Antm81

Briggo wrote:

Legally as a landlord I do not have to get electrical inspections carried out on my property however it is my duty to ensure the property is safe for the tenants, ergo requiring electrical inspections to prove the property is safe.

After seeking advice on this it's deemed that the elec cert provided would last for a good while so long as nothing has changed to the circuits within the property, i.e. new lights put in or rewiring carried out by any persons that I employ to go in, if the tenant does anything to the electrics and it goes tits up it's their fault not mine.

Yeah 10 years is advised on domestic properties, can't remember if it changes for lettings, however a new distribution board would require testing.

The Northern Monkey

5 years for lettings I believe.. thats whats on the fuse box anyway...

TheNorthernTrain

Asked the question and this is the response I got. As stated, he has to be fully qualified and the landlord should have a compliance certificate from the local authority, which he does not legally have to produce to you, but you should ask to see it to ensure that the work carried out meets current standards.

Chunkers1980

My leccy is probably shot. But it's mine and should be your aim if poss. Not trying to sound like a tw@t or owt else, but life if better when it's yours (if mostly the banks)

Briggo

The Northern Monkey wrote:

5 years for lettings I believe.. thats whats on the fuse box anyway...

Aye thats what I was told too but theres nothing legally setting any timelimits it's just deemed good practice to have it checked at least every 5 years if nothing has been altered, i.e. cover your arse for any court cases.

To me even as a landlord that seems ridiculous, it should be made compulsory like gas certs and there should be timescales like there is with the gas cert so theres no confusion with the law. (but not every year, it costs me enough as it is to run the place)