Safety of rental property

[K-PAT]

Hello all,
I wonder if I could ask some advice from electricians out there, I'm not one myself, my link to the forum is through my involvement in PAT testing.
My son is about to rent a flat through a letting agents and I recently had a look at it with him.
The electrics in the premises are via an old style CU with push in wired fuses.The unit looks very old and only has 4 fused circuits.I have found 3 13amp 3 pin sockets in the bathroom(not within reach of anyone in the bath area, but still within the room).I have checked all the sockets in the flat with a Martindale plug in checker and they all show 3 green lights so wired correctly.My concern is the general age of the wiring.
In view of this premises being rented out, should the landlord be considering upgrading the electrics and are there any legal standards that should be maintained.
Any advice or info would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks,

K-Pat.

 

[kingeri]

You could ask the landlord if he has had an EICR done recently on the flat. This is an inspection and test and would have highlighted any problems found. To be honest, a rented property nowadays should have RCD protection....if the landlord is any good. But then again, if the EICR showed no serious issues, then he probably didn't wanna spend the money!

By the way, the tester you used will not show problems on a socket circuit such as a broken ring.......

 

[BrianDB9]

Sounds like a well old installation , let me guess single sockets low down maybe without switches even , whilst it may pass as "safe to continue in service" i'll bet an EICR or even basic visual check by an electrician would produce a long list of common sense reasons for the landlord to seriously consider rewiring if they want happy and safe tenants.

If the consumer unit doesnt have a periodic inspection notice on it , then i think you'd be safe in assuming no test carried out.

I recently sent all estate agents in huddersfield information on why they should test, and an introductory almost free offer to carry them out - not one reply ! Now tell me they give a damn about safety !

 

[Des 56]

They have a duty of care as far as the electrics are concerned
They may order an EICr to comply with that duty of care or they may have other methods

If you are concerned,then the first approach should be to the landlord,tell him of your concerns and listen to what he has to say regards his duty of care
If you feel less than reassured by his response,you could have your own EICR carried out and paid for by yourself
You could request it of the Landlord,but he may not agree

failing these You could also make enquiry of the council as to your concerns
They have authority to remove his license to rent property if the electrics are a danger

 

[dcelectrical]

sadly there are no legal obligations for the landlord to test the installation, he does have a duty of care to provide safe electrics but this is meaning less imo. i think the best thing would be to ask the agents if there is an electrical installation certificate or a periodic inspection report and could you have a copy of the report, if they do not hold a copy or there is not a copy of the report at the property i would formally ask them to ask the landlord to provide the report or commision the report to be carried out. but it is common practice for landlords to tell you to buggr off as they all seem to know that they are not legally obliged.

 

[oldtimer]

Duty of care well yep but no statutory because this would also apply to big housing and council associations and no government i going to lumber them with more regulations in this current environment although the letting agents I do work for take the sort it when required like if a battery smoke detector is faulty then replace it with a mains one .

What size is the bathroom because up here I have only ever seen a socket in a bathroom and I ended up taking it out as it was one of our eastern European cousins that put it in