Napit offers EIS scheme to stroma members for £100+VAT

[Vortigern]

Grab a bargain. With the legislation for landlords coming out (July) it would pay to snap up this offer of £100 plus VAT (hang on thought we were out of the VAT zone, I digress) You save a lot as the normal fee is £455 plus VAT. You get to be listed on the NAPIT site so better exposure for coming work?
Mind, you have to be active with stroma, and listed as EICR competency with relevant insurance.

 

[7029 dave]

I bet most letting agents will insist on scheme membership.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

I bet most letting agents will insist on scheme membership.

I have this week agreed to do the EICRs on several hmos and several apartments for a letting agent. No race to bottom here and they don't care about scheme membership more qualifications and the person doing them being trusted to do the actual testing and give a true report for the landlord. They also don't mark up my invoices. We discussed the drive by testing brigade and they share the concerns about them. They have a list to avoid!

 

[Vortigern]

To be clear on the above points... First you (in theory) can't, from the viewpoint of the scheme go around doing EICR without their assessing your competency and stating that as a specific competency above and beyond DI. Now I know, before you all go off half cocked, that you can do EICR til you're blue in the face and there is no legal reason why not! Don't forget though, you have to have PI insurance. Having said that most schemes will grade your membership according to their criteria and perceived view of your skills on an evidential basis. If you have a schemes "badge" you are competent for EICR it will stand you better in the public's eyes as against just going out on your own because you believe you can do it, which admittedly you may just be so skilled! The point I am making is that Landlords will be looking at NAPIT rather than so much STROMA for lists of sparks who are accredited to do this. The legislation does state the electrician offering the service must be competent/experienced and this is going to be a thing for us to show. The industry has jockeyed us (herded?) into joining into this. And why not, it is good for business and for me a £120 is a drop in the ocean compared to the work I envisage arising from the investment. As to is this an add-on yes it is. However it seems 2021 is the crunch year where we will be having to go NAPIT or hit the highway, and pay their prices (ouch!) no more STROMA price structure. So why not use this to our advantage?

 

[Andy78]

Personally my Stroma membership is up for renewal in August anyway so I will probably just renew with napit to save doing it after they ditch the stroma branding.

 

[Vortigern]

@Andy78 I would hold your cards close to your chest. They well know it is going to be a difficult sell to double the price of annual membership and will have to soft sell this transition to us or lose a massive amount of potential subscribers. I guess that dropping into this scheme at £120 will be a bridge to a concessionary changeover on their prices in 2021. This membership should take me to June 2021 when they will have to drop the big sword of damacles on us and I feel this will be a bargaining chip. Could be wrong just trying to be canny.

 

[bigspark17]

Grab a bargain. With the legislation for landlords coming out (July) it would pay to snap up this offer of £100 plus VAT (hang on thought we were out of the VAT zone, I digress) You save a lot as the normal fee is £455 plus VAT. You get to be listed on the NAPIT site so better exposure for coming work?
Mind, you have to be active with stroma, and listed as EICR competency with relevant insurance.

am i missing something why do you need to register with them, eicr are not currently required to be notified through part p scheme so why do we need to register on them? All you will gain is being listed on there website. What a load of rubbish.
Personally i wouldnt mind eicr having to be done by part p registered sparks as it makes sense, but until we have to be i wont be parting with money needlessly.

 

[Vortigern]

am i missing something

Yes what I have written above regards the logic of taking advantage (as I see it) of raising your profile through an accredited body for a nominal cost, with a view to vying for a better membership price in the pipeline in summary.

 

[Andy78]

am i missing something why do you need to register with them, eicr are not currently required to be notified through part p scheme so why do we need to register on them? All you will gain is being listed on there website. What a load of rubbish.
Personally i wouldnt mind eicr having to be done by part p registered sparks as it makes sense, but until we have to be i wont be parting with money needlessly.

Being listed with a scheme for PRS EICR will also list you on the electrical competent person website as such. This website is linked to on the govt page for landlord info surrounding these regs. Of course if you are already full scope with your scheme you should already be listed, apart from Stroma as they've decided that doesn't count.

The benefits of this are clear.

Here is some clarification I received via email from Luke Spanton, Head of Private Rented Sector Standards, Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government.


The Government considered whether to mandate membership of competent persons schemes by inspectors and testers carry out works under the regulations, but decided against this. The Government did not want to excessively burden the electrical safety industry by requiring inspectors and testers join competent persons schemes if they do not wish to and if they are confident they have the necessary qualifications and competence. However, the industry is encouraged to establish competent person schemes, but membership of these will not be compulsory to ensure there is no further pressure placed on the industry, nor burden placed on inspectors and testers.

If an inspector and tester is not a member of a competent person scheme, an alternative may be to sign a checklist certifying their competence, including their experience, whether they have adequate insurance and hold a qualification covering the current version of the wiring regulations and the periodic inspection, testing and certification of electrical installations.