Electrical Safety Certificate for Rental House

[dibsdiy]

I have had an electrical safety check done on a house which has been left to me and I am going to rent it out. The certificate has not been issued because some work needs to be done e.g. small spot lights replaced in the bathroom, new earth wire put in from mains and a new light socket in the utility room and I must admit the socket does look very old plus water issue as there is a sink there. They will do the work but their charges are extremely high which is difficult for me at the moment. I can ask my usual electrician to do the work as he is more reasonable but would I need to have the full check done again and would I have to pay for this. The original charge for the certificate is £228. I would not want a tenant in there if it is not safe. Thank you for any advice.

 

[winston1]

As I understand it you don't need the check done again. You get the work done and attach a certificate saying this to the report. If you don't have this ask for it, you have paid for it after all.

 

[flameport]

The certificate has not been issued because some work needs to be done

Not correct.
If you have paid for an inspection & test (EICR), then you get the documents regardless of condition.

You can then have that company do the remedial work, or get someone else to do it.

 

[ericmark]

As @flameport says the failed certificate plus some paperwork receipt, minor works certificate, etc. is all that is required, unlike an MOT for a car you don't need it to be retested.

What seems a problem is that if some one in error finds fault, then clearly there will be no minor works certificate to cover it, as nothing wrong to start with, also if the error is raised on work done you have a disagreement between the person who did the work, and the person doing the EICR, and it seems the county council have to mediate. As yet not heard of any cases taken to county council, but seen a lot failed in error. Don't know who has to pay if taken to county council?

 

[dibsdiy]

Thank you to all that have replied. I am new to this and these certificates are becoming an eye opener as to what I can and can't do. I haven't been issued with any certificate setting out the issues so will ask for it now. Many thanks again for taking the time to answer for me. Dibs x

 

[Taylortwocities]

Yes, you should get a report that says that the installation is or is not satisfactory. That is what you paid for.

Ask where it is. When you get the report it will detail the reasons that the installation is not satisfactory.

 

[dibsdiy]

Thankyou Taylortwocities, I shall ask on Monday and insist on a copy. I appreciate all the helpful information. x

 

[dibsdiy]

Well, this has been a learning curve. I have now found out the original electrical inspection was carried out by an unqualified person, this was on behalf of the Letting Agency - £228. At the end of his inspection, someone else came in (and here I am being generous) for 10 minutes supposedly checking the original person's work and the unsatisfactory report was then issued. I have now got a copy. A plug socket was left hanging off a wall with plaster around it broken up and a bulb in the bathroom had been removed and wires just left hanging down. They then sent an estimate for £1220 plus VAT for remedial work. Needless to say, on a personal recommendation I asked another EICR qualified electrician to undertake the work, his charge £547. My query now is, do I need a further certificate to say the work has been carried out or can I just produce the paid invoices to prove this, the new EICR electrician has also provided me with photos to show the work carried out?

 

[winston1]

There is no such thing as an EICR qualified electrician. You can just produce the invoices as far as I am aware.

 

[dibsdiy]

Thank you for your reply, I meant that he was an electrician accredited to carry out EICRs but thank you.

 

[Taylortwocities]

I don’t believe that there is an ‘accreditation’ to undertake an EICR.
I would have expected a minimum qualification in Test & Inspection to be a requirement, but your local carpenter could pitch up and do an EICR. You could do one yourself!

 

[dibsdiy]

Well that would save me a lot of money wouldn't it!

 

[oldbutnotdead]

£228 for an EICR? Is that in London...and sounds as if your letting agent is adding commission to works, you may be getting stiffed both ways (a dubious agent will charge the contractor and the client, contractor will jack his price up to cover the commission & you end up paying the lot plus VAT.)
Have a good read of their Ts and Cs, one lot i was looking at had pages of things they were going to charge for even if they didn't do them (legionella checks in voids, smoke detector tests leap to mind)

 

[ericmark]

There is no such thing as an EICR qualified electrician. You can just produce the invoices as far as I am aware.

Not quite true, there are two City & Guilds qualifications think 2391 and 2392 the latter was a cut down version, however there is no requirement to hold these qualifications, if you have no written qualifications I see nothing to say you need them to do remedial work, however to inspect and test you are using your professional expertise, and to charge for a written report without having some thing to show you have the skill I think would be seen as fraud.

If a professional inspects another professionals work, then he needs to show he is equal or higher qualified than the one who did the work. It really does not matter what professional, so if I do some work, and I am trained to level 5, and you want to show in court what I did was wrong, then you need some one trained to level 5 or higher to say I was wrong.

So if Joe did some electrical work even if 3 years ago, and he was trained to level 3 and held his C&G 2391 and your inspector does an EICR and says this work was dangerous or potentially dangerous, clearly you have every right to go to Joe and say hey this work is dangerous you should fix it free of charge, if he argues then you have every right to take him to court, so your inspector must also have level 3 and hold a C&G 2391 so there is a fair debate, it would be better of course if the inspector was level 5.

Likely in real terms if the inspector finds work sub standard and Joe will not fix it, then you would go to his scheme provider, who would likely send their guy with a line of letters behind his name to further inspect the work, but you would likely need to produce the inspectors report and if that report was clearly not professionally done, it would be hard to get some one for scheme provider to inspect. We have seen on these pages many examples of inspectors going beyond their remit, and giving a code C2 to items which are not even an electrical fault, for example lack of smoke alarms, which could well be highlighted on a fire prevention report, but if not there clearly not an electrical danger.

But to do the repairs is a completely different situation, missing blanks on a consumer unit do not need any electrical test after being replaced, so a receipt for the blanks, and likely a picture to show fitted, stapled to the EICR is all that is required. Even if the inspector would have failed those blanks as they could be removed without a tool, he is not required to return, so until next EICR your OK. And since the push in blanks are manufactured it is hard to say code 2 likely would only be code 3.

 

[dibsdiy]

Ericmark,

Thank you for your comprehensive reply, for many years I was a C & G assessor and could only assess those levels lower than mine (alas not electrical!), so your comments all made sense. I realised the letting agents would take a cut, but didn't realise just how much and £228 is far too high to pay for this report. After the first electricial check, I wasn't going to have that particular company back. The electrician who eventually did the remedial work also pointed out some of the issues itemised initially as faults he felt should have been C3 and also pointed out other things that should have had C3 but were not noted at all. He has provided photos of the work before and after so I will attach these and the paid invoice to the EICR. Thank you all for replying, I really appreciate everyone taking time to comment.