EICR For Landlords

[Midwest]

And you are entitled to that opinion, but it would be irrelevant, tenants don't get to choose who carries out work on behalf of the landlord.
If they did then I'd be insisting that my landlord gets a qualified professional in to fix things instead of having a go at it himself. Instead I have resorted to fixing things myself

You are slightly missing my point.

 

[philich]

You are slightly missing my point.

I think the way forward is
Put RCBO,s on the lighting, they are the only circuits not protected.
If they have a shared neutral then away round it maybe move them to the RCD side and put the the Rings on RCBO,s
Do a full inspection myself and then get a company in to test a certify
I am confident it would pass now but with C3,s for the lighting and the plastic consumer unit
Changing the consumer unit would probably be notifiable and I draw the line at paying someone to do that
But I wont doing anything just yet ,I have until April

 

[Midwest]

I think the way forward is
Put RCBO,s on the lighting, they are the only circuits not protected.
If they have a shared neutral then away round it maybe move them to the RCD side and put the the Rings on RCBO,s
Do a full inspection myself and then get a company in to test a certify
I am confident it would pass now but with C3,s for the lighting and the plastic consumer unit
Changing the consumer unit would probably be notifiable and I draw the line at paying someone to do that
But I wont doing anything just yet ,I have until April

No the way forward, is for someone else, not you doing it, coming up with their own action plan, for the way forward.

 

[Grant1987]

I think the way forward is
Put RCBO,s on the lighting, they are the only circuits not protected.
If they have a shared neutral then away round it maybe move them to the RCD side and put the the Rings on RCBO,s
Do a full inspection myself and then get a company in to test a certify
I am confident it would pass now but with C3,s for the lighting and the plastic consumer unit
Changing the consumer unit would probably be notifiable and I draw the line at paying someone to do that
But I wont doing anything just yet ,I have until April

Hia all, I will hold my hands up and say I was wrong with my previous harsh judgements of failing a plastic consumer I’ve started new job with housing association this week as my private work gone quiet bar the one I’ve just finished after 3 months of late shifts ? I’ve quickly been put down by chief spark of company with regards to my harsh views on consumer units. However one thing he did agree with was my concern that open grommets being used on metal consumers rather than fire grommets especially on the underside of consumer unit where meter tails entered consumer. Also when holes are holesawed with rough edges. I can’t remember who the landlord was that sent huge response to me but I do apologise I fell asleep after your 2nd paragraph got bit bored ?

 

[slpjslpj]

I hope nobody minds if I resurrect this discussion. But it's pretty much exactly the same question I was going to ask. I'm also a retired sparks. Also a landlord. Also need and eicr before April 2021. And although not strictly needed, a cu change, because I'm considering selling in the next year or so, and if I have to have an eicr anyway, I might as well upgrade.

Technically I can easily do it. But same question , --- am I allowed?

Actually I don't mind the circa 130 - 150 quid for an eicr. But I'm not so keen to shell out 300-450 quid for a 6 way cu that I can buy for less than 80 quid and change myself, and still enjoy doing. Problem is, I'm not part p or any other membership.

Was this question resolved fully? Am I allowed to do this? I've searched and either I'm missing it, or there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer.

Advice appreciated, and thanks in advance.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Not the legal route, but you could change the CU yourself and “forget” to notify it.

As there are no quals needed to carry out an EICR (how ridiculous is that) you could do this yourself.

 

[Vortigern]

You could notify the work yourself. Or get a spark to certify and do BC given that he would test and be consulted on the plan and work methods etc. Yes you can do an EICR. Clearly if what you say is true then you qualify legally and regulation wise to do the work. Being retired would have no effect on that unless you have gone senile.
The rub would be your rather kind interpretation of C3 for no rcd on lighting. Now I am not saying it should be a C2, but NAPIT do in their codebreaker book. The reasoning being, tenants can get up to some crazy stuff and RCD all round seems to be the way to go. A conscientious LL would want the tenant to be as safe as possible. What say you now to a C3? In which case a new DB is on the agenda. So notification is the problem, the cost without being a member of the scheme will work out the same as getting someone registered to do it. So, logically I would say get someone else to do it and move the liability away to that other person. Surely you have some mates who you supervised? Get them to do the work so you know the operative is kosher. You know it makes sense.

 

[James]

It has been known for people to fall for unscrupulous installers who put in a new consumer unit, take the money and are not forthcoming with the certificate.
If you were in that position then the local building control will usually accept an eicr as an alternative to an installation certificate.

as a retired spark, at least if you were put in this situation you would at least have a copy of the test results from the dodgy installer because they "left them by the fuse board"
so you would know what the outcome of the eicr would be.

I presume you still have your test gear??

 

[Simon47]

From the RLA web site:

Can I self-certify the property? If you are qualified to check installations to the 18th Edition of the Wiring Regulations and provide a report on it then yes you should be able to self-certify. However, if there are any issues with the property upon inspection by a local authority you would likely be in a worse position than someone who had a qualified person perform the inspection for them.

My insurance policies say nothing about qualifications of trademen (or myself). It's hard to see how an insurance company could have an argument for someone inspecting their own installation - after all, it's an inspection and apart from the opportunity to introduce bad connections, you won't be introducing any faults.
At the same time, you could get "anyone" to come and do electrical works which do involve design etc and have a far higher risk of introducing faults. Yet there's no restrictions on who they might be.

And how could the local authority cause any problems ? Unless it's something so blatant that no-one could have missed it then it's all down to judgement anyway. In my case, I could probably stop them dead in their tracks with something along the lines of "so, this person who's saying I'm wrong, what qualifications does he have and do they at least match mine ?"

Interestingly the page that link goes to now (RLA have merged with NLA to form the NRLA) doesn't contain that bit of text. It does however contain a number of factual errors and the way it's worded suggests that it was provided for them by Napit - oh, I hadn't looked at the top where it says it was provided by Napit. As is usual for stuff produced by the scams, it contains either "factual errors", or very careful wording that's designed to leave someone with a false impression - usually to lead someone into believing that it's a legal requirement to use a registered electrician. In this case it's just an outright lie, it says that "Any Electrical Inspector you employ to undertake the electrical inspection and testing within your property must ..." and then goes on to list 4 requirements which are not specified in the regulations at all. All good ideas, but not one of them qualifying for the use of "must".

When I became a landlord I paid a company to do an electrical inspection. They were so good that they managed to issue a certificate without getting keys to the property. After that I updated my qualifications and now do my own inspections. Never had an issue with the tenants and I know it is done right.

We can expect a lot more of that in the coming few months - along with the "long list of spurious C2s and a suitable quote to fix them" results.

I hope nobody minds if I resurrect this discussion. But it's pretty much exactly the same question I was going to ask. I'm also a retired sparks. Also a landlord. Also need and eicr before April 2021. And although not strictly needed, a cu change, because I'm considering selling in the next year or so, and if I have to have an eicr anyway, I might as well upgrade.

Technically I can easily do it. But same question , --- am I allowed?

Yes, assuming you were a competent sparks and you haven't lost that, then legally you are good to go. Test equipment might be an issue, but I'm sure you can sort something out round that.
For a CU change, the ONLY thing not being a scam member causes you is having to notify it via the LA BC dept - and some of them have silly fees to the point where it's cheaper to employ someone to do it (and put it right to your satisfaction later !)

 

[slpjslpj]

Thanks for those replies.
I'm probably insane, but not senile. ?. Yet.
Might I C3 a C2? Good point. I agree it is possible my tenants could fiddle and shock themselves. They haven't in 14 years -- same tenants, but I admit they could, which is a good reason to change to an rcd cu.

So I can do the eicr legally, but not the cu without paying someone to notify it or pay bc to say I've done a good job. Unfortunately lost touch with any sparks for a favour, although I do know a couple who would do a good job, assuming they havent quit too. I supervised a few who I wouldn't trust to make tea though.

What might I save then if I do it? Not much money at all by the looks of it; so not really worth it even for a tight wad like me lol. My tenants know me and trust me. I grew up in rented housing. I rewired where we lived when I was an apprentice, because the ll wouldn't - the rent was too low. And boy did that need doing. I have high standards. I see the need for eicr's in rentals generally, and notifictaion on works. I doubt I'd be moaning if I wasnt a sparks, or at least a retired one anyway.

Ah well, bite the bullet time then.

Thanks for all the info.

 

[James]

I supervised a few who I wouldn't trust to make tea though.

love it, made me laugh..