HMO Room Wiring

[mineral]

I am planning to create a 6 bedroom HMO , to be leased to the local council (Short term lets). Their surveyor has said that each room needs to have its own consumer unit. ie Only one room will trip if there is fault

Has anybody got experience of this or done this ? I have asked a electrician and he said it is not required or unachievable to have 6 CU's and 1 for communal area's.

 

[Dustydazzler]

2 way consumer unit in each bedroom for power and lights

main consumer unit to cover communal area and main kitchen area

 

[Pete999]

I am planning to create a 6 bedroom HMO , to be leased to the local council (Short term lets). Their surveyor has said that each room needs to have its own consumer unit. ie Only one room will trip if there is fault

Has anybody got experience of this or done this ? I have asked a electrician and he said it is not required or unachievable to have 6 CU's and 1 for communal area's.

I am planning to create a 6 bedroom HMO , to be leased to the local council (Short term lets). Their surveyor has said that each room needs to have its own consumer unit. ie Only one room will trip if there is fault

Has anybody got experience of this or done this ? I have asked a electrician and he said it is not required or unachievable to have 6 CU's and 1 for communal area's.

Small Garage CU in each room lighting and power, fed from a communal CU which would also feed F/As and Smokes, communal lighting and power from the same CU, no mention of how you will provide H.W and C.H, so can't advise on that side of the project, maybe more information required, oh forgot the kitchen requirement.

 

[Anthony S]

Find a spark who knows what their talking about and pay for the design of it.

 

[Pete999]

Find a spark who knows what their talking about and pay for the design of it.

And a pre payment metre in each room

 

[Dustydazzler]

Most HMOs that I have worked on or inspected are extremely basic.
most don’t even have an emergency light nor fire alarm System.
a very common job I get asked to do is hard wire mains smokes in local HMOs

 

[Pete999]

Most HMOs that I have worked on or inspected are extremely basic.
most don’t even have an emergency light nor fire alarm System.
a very common job I get asked to do is hard wire mains smokes in local HMOs

not been designed properly ehen and done on the cheap, no slur on your expertise intended by the way.

 

[Dustydazzler]

not been designed properly ehen and done on the cheap, no slur on your expertise intended by the way.

most were wired some years ago and largely modified as the years go by...

 

[mineral]

Small Garage CU in each room lighting and power, fed from a communal CU which would also feed F/As and Smokes, communal lighting and power from the same CU, no mention of how you will provide H.W and C.H, so can't advise on that side of the project, maybe more information required, oh forgot the kitchen requirement.

Thx

In the HMO their will be 1 Kitchen with 2 hobs, extractor, Microwave and for dble sockets. The heating/HW will be via combi boiler. There will be emergency lighting and a Grade A LD1 Fire Alarm

 

[Pete999]

Thx

In the HMO their will be 1 Kitchen with 2 hobs, extractor, Microwave and for dble sockets. The heating/HW will be via combi boiler. There will be emergency lighting and a Grade A LD1 Fire Alarm

Thx

In the HMO their will be 1 Kitchen with 2 hobs, extractor, Microwave and for dble sockets. The heating/HW will be via combi boiler. There will be emergency lighting and a Grade A LD1 Fire Alarm

Will pm you if you want me to design this for you.

 

[Pauls0212]

It will be the first HMO i know of that has its own con unit in each bedroom, and i have seen a few. Do they each get their own boiler for heat?

 

[Pete999]

It will be the first HMO i know of that has its own con unit in each bedroom, and i have seen a few. Do they each get their own boiler for heat?

No the House owner will need to se a rate for heating, agreed in the tenant agreement, exactly the reason I suggested a prepayment metere in each room for Fan heaters, hair dryers etc. I have only ever been invoved in 1 and it's simple to see that individual C/H is just simply impossible to even think of.

 

[Bellendian]

See quite a few hmos intended for student accomodation. LA requirements quite strict in terms of fire and em lighting, fridge freezer volume, worktop area etc. Many of the larger ones have 2 hobs and 2 or 3 ovens and fridge freezers..
Never heard of a requirement for individual cu in each room. Unless supplies to these cus were fused as opposed to being fed via a b32 mcb for example, no real benefit?

 

[Pauls0212]

That would have to be a changable rate depending on how many rooms are occupied (pete)

 

[Phil Thompson]

If its a 6 bedroom hmo then should 2x14 circuit straight boards after 1 main switch not suffice with a breakdown something similar to this.

8x lighting circuits
8x socket circuits
4x cooking circuits
4x washing circuits
1x Heating circuit
1x Fire alarm circuit
1x intercom circuit

 

[Vortigern]

It is achievable to have consumer units in each room. However, you may well require an AFDD and possible SPD costing hundreds for each consumer unit. For this reason it would be better to have one central consumer unit supplying each flat with possibly a din rail meter for each flat. For instance one landlord I recently did some conversion work for had a bill for £6000 electricity. The tenants were wont to leave heaters on and disappear off to sunnier climbs for a few months. At least you could switch off the supply from a central location if needs be if you can't enter the room. Tenants can be most interesting in the way they treat property and equipment. It may therefore be safer to have the consumer units in a central location.

 

[Anthony S]

Will pm you if you want me to design this for you.

Doing it for free ?

 

[Pete999]

Doing it for free ?

OK Good luck

 

[Anthony S]

OK Good luck

You might be retired with a pension but others are still trying to earn a living and can't afford to design for Free.

 

[snowhead]

If the Local Council, who will be leasing the HMO have stipulated each room must have it's own C.U, then each room must have it's C.U. or go find someone else to lease it to.
Any discussion about alternative ways of doing it is pointless.

It doesn't matter whether it's unusual or over the top or if other extra work needs to be done as a result.
If the Council wanted 2 rooms painted Blue, 2 Pink and 2 neutral colour, then that's what they'd need to be.

If the first electrician has said it's not required or unachievable to have 6 CU's and 1 for communal area's, then the O.P will have to find one that can achieve it.