Mandatory electrical checks (Scotland) - wish you did business here?

[baldelectrician]

God bless the Scottish Government

They are about to release MANDATORY guidance that requires ALL landlords to have electrical checks from 31st December 2015.

The guidance will be released at the end of February and will be effective in December.

There will be a requirement to use a NICEIC or SELECT electrician - if a client uses another electrician that is not registered they will have to carry out due diligence ( they will have to ask for lots of info such as copies of insurance, competence etc)

i reckon that over 90% of landlords do not have the electrics correct now, this will make a lot more of them bring the properties up to a more reasonable standard.

more work lies ahead.....

 

[Dcf]

there is also guidance (soon to be legislation apparently) for smoke detectors in the living room and hallways plus a heat in the kitchen
to bring it in line with the building regs i would imagine
only fly in the ointment that said smoke detectors would present ,would be a building warrant for work in a flat which would be more expense for the landlord
the agents i work for usually insist on a eicr being done before the property gets taken on.
you still get some tight arses moaning that its not law etc etc
more work in some manky garrets for me then!

 

[Octopus]

More EICR's not worth the paper that they are written on heading down the toilet!

 

[Dcf]

why so cynical murdoch?
there nothing like a bit of ill thought out bureaucracy to keep the wheels of the truck of industry greased is there?

 

[Octopus]

why so cynical murdoch?
there nothing like a bit of ill thought out bureaucracy to keep the wheels of the truck of industry greased is there?

Just take a look at PAT testing!

 

[Andy78]

God bless the Scottish Government

They are about to release MANDATORY guidance that requires ALL landlords to have electrical checks from 31st December 2015.

The guidance will be released at the end of February and will be effective in December.

There will be a requirement to use a NICEIC or SELECT electrician - if a client uses another electrician that is not registered they will have to carry out due diligence ( they will have to ask for lots of info such as copies of insurance, competence etc)

i reckon that over 90% of landlords do not have the electrics correct now, this will make a lot more of them bring the properties up to a more reasonable standard.

more work lies ahead.....

Mandatory electrical checks ? In what form, or is this conveniently not included in the legislation ?
It's backed by the NICEIC is it ?, the body that brought you the landlords visual safety inspection, or in other words the poor coat of looking at with no testing at all that is no guarantee of any electrical safety whatsoever.

 

[baldelectrician]

Just take a look at PAT testing!

The problem is the thought process amongst politicians. one I spoke to thought the smoke detector guidance was all that was needed- I did point out that before calling her I called 5 letting a agents asking about properties to let and smoke detectors inside - every one did not have the required amount and 3/5 did not know about the 2013 guidance.

I know that the current guidance on electrics was made in conjunction with the industry and it is pretty watertight as far as it can go ( due to EU law it can't make SELECT / NICEIC mandatory, but they can make it pretty tight. - such as requiring non registered electricians to provide the landlord with proof of competence )

This follows on from the mandatory registration of landlords and the PRHP ( a panel that can force landlords to do repairs and even have them removed from registration).
They can require a landlord to use a letting agent to manage their properties if they don't do a good enough job themselves.

 

[baldelectrician]

Mandatory electrical checks ? In what form, or is this conveniently not included in the legislation ?
It's backed by the NICEIC is it ?, the body that brought you the landlords visual safety inspection, or in other words the poor coat of looking at with no testing at all that is no guarantee of any electrical safety whatsoever.

Its an EICR

 

[Andy78]

Its an EICR

Is there legislation as to the frequency of these EICRs ?

 

[baldelectrician]

5 years, don't know the caveats yet

 

[Andy78]

Sounds well thought out on the face of it, although I share Murdoch's fear of increased drive bys with the emphasis on work generation rather than honest accounts of electrical safety.

 

[Engineer54]

I know that the current guidance on electrics was made in conjunction with the industry and it is pretty watertight as far as it can go ( due to EU law it can't make SELECT / NICEIC mandatory, but they can make it pretty tight. - such as requiring non registered electricians to provide the landlord with proof of competence )

The overall Legislation makes good sense and probably long overdue, and not just in Scotland...

Unfortunately it's floored before it starts then, since when has the likes of NICEIC or any other Part P scam been able to prove the competence of it's members?? If anything you could say the exact opposite is far more likely to be true!! A far better requirement would be JIB/SJIB registration, that'll keep all the NICEIC and other Scam chancers out of the equation at least...

 

[baldelectrician]

The overall Legislation makes good sense and probably long overdue, and not just in Scotland...

Unfortunately it's floored before it starts then, since when has the likes of NICEIC or any other Part P scam been able to prove the competence of it's members?? If anything you could say the exact opposite is far more likely to be true!! A far better requirement would be JIB/SJIB registration, that'll keep all the NICEIC and other Scam chancers out of the equation at least...

Remember there is no Part-P in Scotland, so its only FULL NIC or SELECT regiatration that will be accepted
The criteria for non registered electricians means the electrician will have to provide (and the landlord will have to ask for and keep) all the info, which is mainly along the lines of the enrolment criteria for full membership

 

[GB.Kayak]

The overall Legislation makes good sense and probably long overdue, and not just in Scotland...

Unfortunately it's floored before it starts then, since when has the likes of NICEIC or any other Part P scam been able to prove the competence of it's members?? If anything you could say the exact opposite is far more likely to be true!! A far better requirement would be JIB/SJIB registration, that'll keep all the NICEIC and other Scam chancers out of the equation at least...

Eng54 ... floor as in T&G or butt jointed, or flaw as in imperfect? ;-))

 

[GB.Kayak]

God bless the Scottish Government

They are about to release MANDATORY guidance that requires ALL landlords to have electrical checks from 31st December 2015.

The guidance will be released at the end of February and will be effective in December.

There will be a requirement to use a NICEIC or SELECT electrician - if a client uses another electrician that is not registered they will have to carry out due diligence ( they will have to ask for lots of info such as copies of insurance, competence etc)

i reckon that over 90% of landlords do not have the electrics correct now, this will make a lot more of them bring the properties up to a more reasonable standard.

more work lies ahead.....

MANDATORY guidance, is something of a contradiction in terms ... are they introducing legislation, that is the law and therefore enforceable, or are they releasing a new set of updated guidelines?

 

[Octopus]

Unless the schemes and/or Government in Scotland are going to fund "bodies" to do spot checks AND hold people to account NOTHING will change.

Almost any muppet can sign up to a scheme and pay the monies and get a "badge"

 

[baldelectrician]

MANDATORY guidance, is something of a contradiction in terms ... are they introducing legislation, that is the law and therefore enforceable, or are they releasing a new set of updated guidelines?

The Housing Scotland Act 2014 is the enabling act.
The guidance stems from the act and is mandated by the act- the guidance is mandatory.

It works the same way as the building standards act- the act enables the government to introduce guidance and standards without going to parliament each time they want to change a small item

The act (section 23) amends the 2006 act to add provisions for electrical inspections.

Link to the act above

The act does other things, such as remove the right to buy and regulate letting agents - more info on the link above.

 

[GB.Kayak]

The Housing Scotland Act 2014 is the enabling act.
The guidance stems from the act and is mandated by the act- the guidance is mandatory.

It works the same way as the building standards act- the act enables the government to introduce guidance and standards without going to parliament each time they want to change a small item

The act (section 23) amends the 2006 act to add provisions for electrical inspections.

Link to the act above

The act does other things, such as remove the right to buy and regulate letting agents - more info on the link above.

I shall await the guidance with interest! Despite my internet search for guidance related to the 2006 act, I have found little concrete information. The most directly informative document by the Electrical Safety Council is at the link ... http://www.landlords.org.uk/sites/default/files/electrical safety landlords scotland.pdf ... but there appears to be little in the formal government published documentation. If you know of any, other than the act itself, please would you publish the links?

 

[baldelectrician]

I shall await the guidance with interest! Despite my internet search for guidance related to the 2006 act, I have found little concrete information. The most directly informative document by the Electrical Safety Council is at the link ... http://www.landlords.org.uk/sites/default/files/electrical safety landlords scotland.pdf ... but there appears to be little in the formal government published documentation. If you know of any, other than the act itself, please would you publish the links?

I am waiting to find out- there will be a press release from the Sottish Government at the middle-end of February
i have heard rumours and have been told off the record that it will be almost mandatory to use SELECT / NICEIC lots of hoops for a LL who does not use a registered spark

 

[Engineer54]

Remember there is no Part-P in Scotland, so its only FULL NIC or SELECT regiatration that will be accepted
The criteria for non registered electricians means the electrician will have to provide (and the landlord will have to ask for and keep) all the info, which is mainly along the lines of the enrolment criteria for full membership

Is that supposed to mean something these days?? Still say the requirement should be based around the SJIB and it's grading, rather than let this parasite organisation cash in yet again
...