Yes; a landlord, like any other business owner, needs to ensure electrical equipment they provide (as part of the rental agreement) is safe to use, so they need to get equipment PAT tested to know it is safe. 

The electrical equipment provided as part of a tenancy agreement must be safe, and be maintained regularly to ensure it stays safe. Whilst there is no set requirement for retest periods it is widely regarded that annual retests are best, or at least each time the tenancy changes.  

Electrical safety warning for Landlords from the ESC, about how they are exposing tenants to dangers from defective electrical systems. 

(Originally on the Seaward website – link removed due to it not working correctly).

The Electrical Safety Council (ESC) has warned that landlords are exposing millions of tenants to dangers and could face huge fines.

The ESC found 1.7 million private renters have reported electrical concerns that were either ignored by their landlord or acted on too slowly, and 1.3 million renters are currently waiting for electrical issues to be resolved.

The ESC study hoped to gauge landlord’s awareness of the fact fines for failing to maintain adequate electrical safety have risen from £5,000 to £20,000, but instead found a fifth – around 300,000 private landlords – still believed there were no fines at all. Added to this, many landlords did not know their insurance may be invalidated if they fail to follow their obligations.

Electrical accidents cause more than 350,000 serious injuries each year and cause more than half of all accidental house fires. However, tenants are most at risk – they are more likely to experience a serious electric shock than home owners and may be up to seven times more likely to experience a house fire. The ESC is concerned that unless landlords take action, the situation will deteriorate further.

Read this – 6 Useful Tips for Rental Property Safety

Phil Buckle, Director General of the Electrical Safety Council, said: “We’ve found that many landlords are ignorant of their responsibilities. In the long term, we’d like to see tighter guidelines for landlords on electrical safety but with the number of non-professional landlords increasing every day, we also need to address this now.

“We need all landlords to understand that they are not only putting people’s lives at risk, but they could also face serious financial loss through fines or invalidated insurance if they don’t act on their existing obligations.”

By law, landlords must ensure electrical installations and wiring are maintained in a safe condition throughout the tenancy. The ESC recommends landlords should have electrical appliances and installations checked at least every five years by a registered electrician, along with carrying out regular visual checks themselves.

More details at www.esc.org.uk/landlords.

If you are a landlord looking for someone to do your PAT testing visit our Landlords PAT testing page or speak to us today.