Mandatory EICRs in Rental Properties - 1 year or 5 years

[Spazz]

Please post your comments on here - state if you think EICRs should be done every year or 5 years.
Also please state your reason behind your choice - please don't put money!, profit for us, cost to landlords etc!

I will put this forward to Parliament in favor of which one is considered best by the experts in the field (us)

Please sticky this as well please

 

[BigAndyB]

No links work

Yer, not sure what i have done? i can see them? Damn technology.

 

[Spazz]

That melted terminal on the old re-wire-able fuse boards is very common with higher loads. Every CU change I have done from the old 3036 (with a 40A breaker/fuse) to new 17th Ed always has had a burned fuse. Im not sure if these boards can take the high current required to run 40A (e.g. a shower)

 

[BigAndyB]

Lucky the shower doesn't work then!!

But still, putting a strip of tape across the front of the board takes the ****!
Even a bit of trunking lid secured across the opening would be an improvement. I blame the letting agents handyman!

 

[somersetsparks]

Nick - your right only high integrety Wylex boards can take a fuse bigger then 30a. These tend to have a seperate way with a slightly larger fusecarrier, usually a 45A green from what ive seen. However most units ive seen have been in 'serviceable' condition. You have to rmember a fuse blowing from a fault makes a mess!

 

[oldtimer]

Guys I have went to plenty of CUs burnt out like the one Andy has highlighted and IMO its all down to slack connections in the CU hence why the fuse carrier burnsout example below also a fault like this will be highlighted if the circuit has a big load hence why it happens on a shower.


Also just to add Mandatory EICRs are not going to happen in this current economical climate yes I know we for safety reasons they need to catch out dodgy landlords but in affect they will just continue to break the or any law where the housing associations and the tenant of social housing will end up bearing most of the cost and no government will let that happen. You also have to remember where we have come from ie a 2 way fuseboard where your granny (well mine did) plugged her iron into the light point so we have come a long way but change will come through incremental change and not legislation

 

[BigAndyB]

Also just to add Mandatory EICRs are not going to happen in this current economical climate yes I know we for safety reasons they need to catch out dodgy landlords but in affect they will just continue to break the or any law where the housing associations and the tenant of social housing will end up bearing most of the cost and no government will let that happen.

Thanks Oldtimer,
Problem, this is a reputable company! Very hard not to tar them all with the same brush, even i have rented from them in the past.

 

[Mark8v]

Nicholas, I think your campaign is a very good idea.

As someone with experience of both electrics and renting I can say a lot of emphasis is placed on gas safety checks but virtually none on the electrical side. I rented for nearly 5 years at two different properties and nothing was ever checked.

Test on change of occupancy is a must as there's no telling what diy alterations may have been made. Mini test every 5 years is probably a good compromise between safety and practicality.

 

[Knobhead]

At the end of the day the OP didn't start this as a safety issue. It's a money making scam.

 

[imago]

At the end of the day the OP didn't start this as a safety issue. It's a money making scam.

Which unfortunately describes EICRs in general under the current regulations and governance of the schemes. Unless a governing body starts to sample EICR test results and recommendations then increasing the frequency/number of them carried out would be completely pointless.

 

[UNG]

Which unfortunately describes EICRs in general under the current regulations and governance of the schemes.

Not following your point here. Are you suggesting all EICR's are a complete waste of time unless you have the intervention of an overseeing body

Unless a governing body starts to sample EICR test results and recommendations then increasing the frequency/number of them carried out would be completely pointless.

And if a governing body did this who is picking up the cost as this would require another site visit for another electrician and cause inconvenience as well as expense for the customer

Then if there are differing opinions on an installations safety who is right, I can see it now an experienced time served guy getting his EICR knocked back by a 17DW and a big argument kicking off

This idea just adds to the madness of the OP's original idea

 

[imago]

Not following your point here. Are you suggesting all EICR's are a complete waste of time unless you have the intervention of an overseeing body

Pretty much as no one can give any assurance of quality for either the report or the person carrying out the examination. I did an EICR on a house a couple of weeks back, how do you, the home owner, or anyone else know how accurate it is? Was it a drive-by? Was it a "landlord's certificate"? Was it visual only? Or did I actually use my knowledge, experience to give a report on the visual, and did I carry out the full range of tests using my MFT?

Unless someone dies or is injured in a property I have inspected, no one will ever check my test results.

My point is that unless there is a monitoring system for the quality of EICR's anyone can do them in any way they see fit. So making them mandatory will simply massively increase the number of drive-by or just poorly executed tests.