tenant's right to see minor works certificate

[pushrod]

Background Had a phone conversation with my son who is away at college and just moved into recently converted rented accomodation -

The other day he turns the light switch on and there is a brilliant blue flash across the room coming from one or more recessed ceiling spots, also a flash and bang from the switch and the 6A mcb trips out. He reset the mcb tries again - no flash, but 2 of the 9 spots are off.

Anyway calls landlords (lsmall company) and 2 maintenance chaps come round replace bulbs, fiddle with switch and get it to blow another bulb. They then replace the switch and give him some chat about power surges. Anyway it turns out that one of guys is actually the person who put the electrics in and he is a carpenter not an electrician at all .

They do no testing at all and issue no minor works certificate (the guy said he wasn't part P registered)
I am obviously not too happy as i'm wondering what state the electrics are in as they have been put in by a chippy.

Question Can he demand to have a minor works certificate from the company? forcing them to come and test it properly?

On the back of the eic cert in the BS7671 it says that certs , or copies should go to the user, but the wording on the back of the minor one is more vague and could possibly be interpreted as just going to the landlord.

Also any suggestions on what was happening in the first place to cause such large flashes?

cheers

 

[DurhamSparky]

as a tennant you have a right to see that the property is maintained in a reasonable fashion and if that means seeing the certificates for both gas / elec and even just the insurance its your right!!

i suggest that you ring the landlord and say your concerned that your son is worried about the state of theelec system and your considering informing the local council building inspector and university as you belive there to be a electrical fault that may potentially hurt/kill some body..!

 

[Deleted member 9648]

If the spots are GU10 I've known them go with a hell of a pop, sometimes taking out adjacent lamps as well ,and had them naff dimmers in the process.....possibly poor quality lamps but GU10's seem very prone to this.
If they are CE marked spots not in a kitchen or bathroom they dont come under part P so anyone can install and not cert.
However as Des says as a tennant you have legal rights and I would suggest chasing the landlord to get it checked...a call to the CAB might be worthwhile so you can quote exactly what his legal obligations are when you talk to him.

 

[ezzzekiel]

ask to see thee eic for the property and any additional forms for work thats been added

 

[Sintra]

As you say your son has just moved in then a PIR should have been done on the change of tennancy ask for this also.

 

[pushrod]

Thanks for the replies lads i suspected as much and yes i suppose the CAB phone call should probs have been first but the laptop was closer and they were shut - speaking to my lad again and he said that the spots (they are gu10s) they replaced have already blown again but not in such dramatic style - they were handling them with there bare hands mind
Will post an update if anything interesting happens.

 

[pushrod]

As you say your son has just moved in then a PIR should have been done on the change of tennancy ask for this also.

Not sure about this Sintra, isn't a PIR just recommended on a change of function for a building not necessarily between tenants - do you have a link? Mind there may well still be a recent PIR or EIC on the building as i don't think it has been a flat for long.

 

[brucelee]

residential accomodation
it should have had a routine check for change of occupancy/1 year and maximum period between inspections and testing of 5 years

rented domestic and residential accomodation in england and wales, the landlord and tenant act 1985 section 11 repairing obligations in short leases sub - section (1) (b) requires a landlord to keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling house for the supply of water ,gas and electricity

although the above act makes specific mention of a need to carry out a periodic inspection and testing of the electrical installation the landlord is obligated to maintain the installation in a condition safe for the use intended

EAWR 1989 requires that as may be necessary to prevent danger all sytems shall be maintained so far as is reasonably practicable, such danger

all systems shall be maintained in a safe condition for continued service and therefore must be periodically inspected and tested or a adequete effective and ongoing planned and proactive maintainance programme periodic inspection and testing is a practical way of identifying were maintainance work is required in order to keep the accomodation in a condition that is safe for use

copies of certs should be given to the person ordering the work or the inspection and then passed onto the landlord if he was not the one who ordered the work who should pass a copy on to the user

necessity for pir
on a change of occupancy
change of use
to assess compliance with bs7671 etc etc

 

[Sintra]

Not sure about this Sintra, isn't a PIR just recommended on a change of function for a building not necessarily between tenants - do you have a link? Mind there may well still be a recent PIR or EIC on the building as i don't think it has been a flat for long.

Think i saw it in the ESC guide for landlords here.

"For rented accommodation the ESC recommends that periodic inspection and testing
is carried out at least every 5 years or on the change of tenancy."

 

[nickblake]

Yes Sintra is correct , i do alot of PIR for rented properties , there is a reason for it and that is you are renting out a property to some one and you never know what the previouse tenant has done , IE removed light switches and left bare wires extra sokets wired in bell wire , and even one i got was new tenants in a rented property letting agents let the new tenants in didnt check the CDU old BS1361 board removed the carries added fuse wire and put the carries back all live and no covers ,thats why we do PIR's on change of tenant

 

[pushrod]

"When do Landlords need to complete an electrical inspection?
Unlike the gas regulations there is not a statutory period for completing electrical safety inspections or maintenance. Guidance is contained in the IEE Code of Practice. This document places a general requirement for a “routine check” on properties of twelve months with a more thorough examination including inspection and testing every five years."

On close and detailed reading of many links it seems that the above is true
It seems that everything else is either guidance or suggested codes of practice which are not statutory!

Reminds me of one of the voltimum newsletters where one of their guys was called as an expert electrical witness but had all his testimony rejected by the judge rejected because it was based on BS7671 which was non statutory

I am not in favour of the nanny state - but how come the gas safety is statutory but there is not a legal requirement for electical checks GRRRR even if it was statutory for there to be a PIR every 3,4 or 5 years in rented accomodation it would be an improvement and mean everyone knew exactly where they stood. (plus some extra work for sparks )