As a landlord, you have an important responsibility to provide your tenants with somewhere safe to live. There are laws in the UK that require landlords to have certain tests carried out on a regular basis and one of those is an EICR.
It’s not uncommon for an electrician to find faults during an EICR and that’s actually a good thing. It tells you what work needs to be completed in order that your electrical installations can be safely used. Without this test, problems may not be identified until it is too late.
But if you’ve found yourself with new tenants waiting to move in and an EICR that’s highlighted serious problems, you might feel as though there’s a spanner in the works.
Is it a good idea to move new tenants in after the property has failed its EICR or should you wait until the work has been completed? Let’s explore.
What’s The Law In The UK For Landlords And EICRs?
Since 2021, it has been required by law that all UK landlords have an up-to-date EICR for all their domestic properties. If you do not comply with this law then you could face serious penalties with fines up to £30,000. Not to mention the moral implications of not having a satisfactory EICR.
An EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) is a test carried out by a qualified electrician who will check your electrical installations for any faults. Sometimes, these faults may be minor and don’t require immediate attention (think of the advisories on your MOT) but in other instances, faults may be deemed dangerous and your electrician will recommend that remedial work is carried out as soon as possible.
While a private homeowner would be able to make their own decision on if and when they carry this work out, as a landlord, you’re given a time limit of 28 days to have any problems fixed.
Moreover, you have to keep in mind that a single EICR when your new tenants move in isn’t enough. By law, you are required to have an EICR at least once every five years.
While you aren’t legally obligated to have a new EICR every time a new tenant moves in (as long as it’s been no more than five years since the last one), it’s good practice to have one anyway. This allows you to identify any issues that may have been caused by the previous tenants’ wear and tear on the installations.
What Happens If My Property Fails Its EICR?
As I have just touched upon, in the event that serious faults (known as a code one) are highlighted during your EICR, you will be required to have these issues fixed within a 28 day period.
All faults and repairs must also be reported to your local authority. If you do not have the work carried out, the LA can then arrange the work for you but you will be charged for this and there may be penalties involved.
What’s more, if you refuse to have the work completed, this is going to damage your reputation as a landlord. Tenants are not going to want to move into a property that they deem to be unsafe and they certainly won’t want to deal with a landlord that doesn’t make their safety a priority.
To sum it up, it’s always best to have a valid EICR and stay up to date with any remedial work, no matter what angle you look at it from.
Can A New Tenant Move In Without A Satisfactory EICR?
So, you’ve got a new tenant waiting to move into their new home and everything is ready to go. But there’s just one problem; your electrician has performed an EICR and things aren’t up to standard.
Is it OK to allow your new tenant to move in and simply arrange the remedial work for the very near future?
Quite simply, you should not allow your tenant to move in until the remedial work has been carried out. By doing so, you are putting your tenant at risk and the financial, legal, and moral consequences of this will be far greater than a disgruntled tenant who wants to move in as soon as possible.
What I would recommend is having a new EICR as soon as you start advertising for new tenants. This way, you’ll have plenty of time during the application process to have the work carried out rather than promising a tenant a moving date that you can’t uphold if the EICR comes back with a fault.
The safety of your tenants should be your primary concern and even if they’re unhappy at not being able to move in right away, most people will be understanding once you explain what’s happening and that you’re trying to ensure they have a safe home to move into.
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