What is needed to rent a house out

[johnacky]

I have a house that was previously occupied by elderly relatives. I am considering renting the house, and am in the process of bringing the house up to a smart basic standard. The house was last rewired 25 years ago, and have had an electrician go over it. The spark stated that the electrics were ok, but to rent the house out it would have to be brought up to todays building regs, which would mean that cost wise it was on the borderline of a full rewire.
Just wondering what needs to be done to rent the house out. Do I need certain certificates etc. Many thanks

 

[rebuke]

A good site with info about this (and lots of other aspects of renting a property) is: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/electrical_safety.htm

To summarise, basically you have to provide a property that is electrically safe - this doesn't necessarily mean everything has to comply with the latest version of the wiring regs however, so a rewire may not be necessary.

If I were you, I would get a PIR (Periodic Inspection Report), which will highlight any issues, and give them a code 1 to 4. 1 means immediately dangerous and requires urgent attention, 2 means requires improvement, 3 means further investigation required, and 4 means not to current regulations. If you rectify any 1s and 2s that show up (you're unlikely to get any 3s, but if you do obviously have the further investigation carried out!), then you should be fine...