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This an extremely interesting thread, and I have read all the contributions with interest, as I was once a landlord and also a managing agent for other landlords. As a private landlord my rentals were fortunately in "good" areas where interference with the electrical installation by tenants is extremely rare...certainly never occurred on my properties. There is the other end of the scale, the "Salamander Street" scenario, where interference was commonplace due to the type of tenants involved.
As a letting agent we made sure all certificates for gas and electrial safety were in place at the start of a tenancy, along with the other documents required by Scottish legislation...however, we did not ever offer a periodic inspection and report to the landlords, most of whom lived fairly close by and did those inspections themselves.
As @littlespark mentioned, we had/have short assured tenancies, but these have been replaced by new PRS tenancies with no end-date and no automatic right for the landlord to terminate after due notice. This has led to many landlords leaving the rental market as it added another problem to the list including the restriction of mortgage relief and the ADS, additional dwelling supplement which broadly meant that if you had a home, and bought another one to rent out, you had to pay an additional 4% stamp duty, plus numerous other rules and regulations. I should clarify that Short Assured tenancies which were in place and remain so after the introduction of the new PRS are still valid under the old rules, but the paperwork is/was the same. In this area, I do believe the Scottish approach was a tougher regime than south of the border.
I digress. Good landlords will ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the safety of their tenants.
Bad landlords don't give a flying foxtrot, and will either try to evade the regulations or show bare adherence in the cheapest possible way. In the end, it all boils down to the degree of care, and a sensible and stateable case for when you choose to do the EICR, and after 3 years of "one careful tenant" you might leave it for another 2 years, or you might not, depending on what you find when a tenant vacates.
However...whatever approach you take, the man in a wig is not likely to be your friend unless you can convince him you took all reasonable steps...if it can be shown the property clearly had dodgy electrics at the end of one tenancy, the fact that an EICR wasn't "due" for another year will be a poor defence.
As a letting agent we made sure all certificates for gas and electrial safety were in place at the start of a tenancy, along with the other documents required by Scottish legislation...however, we did not ever offer a periodic inspection and report to the landlords, most of whom lived fairly close by and did those inspections themselves.
As @littlespark mentioned, we had/have short assured tenancies, but these have been replaced by new PRS tenancies with no end-date and no automatic right for the landlord to terminate after due notice. This has led to many landlords leaving the rental market as it added another problem to the list including the restriction of mortgage relief and the ADS, additional dwelling supplement which broadly meant that if you had a home, and bought another one to rent out, you had to pay an additional 4% stamp duty, plus numerous other rules and regulations. I should clarify that Short Assured tenancies which were in place and remain so after the introduction of the new PRS are still valid under the old rules, but the paperwork is/was the same. In this area, I do believe the Scottish approach was a tougher regime than south of the border.
I digress. Good landlords will ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the safety of their tenants.
Bad landlords don't give a flying foxtrot, and will either try to evade the regulations or show bare adherence in the cheapest possible way. In the end, it all boils down to the degree of care, and a sensible and stateable case for when you choose to do the EICR, and after 3 years of "one careful tenant" you might leave it for another 2 years, or you might not, depending on what you find when a tenant vacates.
However...whatever approach you take, the man in a wig is not likely to be your friend unless you can convince him you took all reasonable steps...if it can be shown the property clearly had dodgy electrics at the end of one tenancy, the fact that an EICR wasn't "due" for another year will be a poor defence.