UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi all, sorting out all the last minute things before we put house up for rent.

Had it 7 days now, have done painting, having it carpeted tomorrow, now for final checks.

I want to pick your brains again.  Do you think it is necessary as established Landlords to have the electricity checked out by an electrician before we let it?  I know it isn't law but just wondering.... The house was rewired 7 years ago. 

I know I need the gas cert .  If both gas and electricity are both needed can someone give me an idea of how much they normally pay for these please? I have just been quoted £100 for the electricity check by the man who rewired it.

Thanks for any advice.

Quote from: fishface on November 20, 2015, 10:28:54 AMDo you think it is necessary as established Landlords to have the electricity checked out by an electrician before we let it?  I know it isn't law but just wondering.... The house was rewired 7 years ago.

It's not necessary.

Quote from: fishface on November 20, 2015, 10:28:54 AMI know I need the gas cert .  If both gas and electricity are both needed can someone give me an idea of how much they normally pay for these please? I have just been quoted £100 for the electricity check by the man who rewired it.

GSC, £50. Electricity, never done one... as it's not necessary.

I think £100 is a bargain for an electrical check that gives you peace of mind. As you say not a legal requirement but good practice and it could be a 'get out of jail free card' should anything untoward happen electrically. For a full check we would expect a bill of double that on a three bedroom house. Generally we pay £75 (inc VAT)  for a gas check but expect to pay more if you have more than two appliances. These are SW London prices so don't know about the rest of the country?

It is for a four bedroom house in Birmingham so I would imagine that London is a lot more expensive.

Have been quoted 132 which is including a service to Boiler and a fire.  Although the boiler is ancient I have decided against replacing as after reading all about it they seem to be built to last if not that efficient.  It is a New Mexico boiler

My £50 is because any property I have just has a combi. boiler, nothing more. Also, I do 5 in a single day... I took the decision to rationalise the dates of all my GSCs, I just follow the man around and chaperone him into each property.

Peace of mind and get out of jail free cards are just words... a Landlord is responsible for checking the electrics are safe - this is simply done visually. You can tell if a socket is shattered or coming away from the wall, you can tell if the cord of something is frayed and dangerous. It would not surprise me, and this (really) is no dig, that someone in the industry (be they Letting Agent or Electrician) would recommend Landlords go for these checks - that's just human nature and a waste of money. These will be the same kinds of people who are pushing Legionella Assessments and taking advantage of the new legislation re. smoke alarms and CO detectors.

Again, this is no dig, Landlords just have to have their eyes open on what they spend their money on... unsure Landlords are a pot of gold for some.

I adhere - fully - to anything that is the law. I fully support CO detectors and all my smoke alarms are hard-wired. I've never not had a GSC. I have IP-rated light fittings in all bathrooms (even though some properties were sold to me without). I just had a house re-wired (actually, still, it's at first-fix stage and the Plasterer is in) because the electric system that was in there did not fill me with confidence, so I will be having a metal-clad consumer board fitted (to be ahead, in a sense, of the regulations coming in in 2016). I feel I go above-and-beyond quite often but I try to keep myself on the ground with what I pay out to other professionals for a piece of paper... if that paper is demonstrably valuable then I'll have it, if not then what's the point?

Quote from: fishface on November 20, 2015, 10:54:27 AMAlthough the boiler is ancient I have decided against replacing as after reading all about it they seem to be built to last if not that efficient.  It is a New Mexico boiler

I bought a house with a back boiler recently and I took the decision to bite the bullet and replace it. Nothing says a property has been done right more than a new central heating system. I've installed a Nest thermostat at the same time. It was just over a £2,000 outlay so it was painful, but the boiler now has a 7 year warranty to boot.

I would always give really serious consideration to replacing something ancient. While it is true that the told stuff 'just works'... efficiency is a 'seller' too.

As an agent who makes diddly squat on work done, be it gas, electric, smoke  alarms or legionella, I know that if I am responsible for a tenants safety then I feel far more comfortable with professionals telling me a house is safe. In my long and varied career I have only ever had two houses who had serious electrical issues and one of them resulted in a minor fire. A landlord has a duty to ensure the safety of their tenants and in my book it is reasonable to pay £100 for a test on the electrics. Sure a visual inspection can be ok for portable appliances and modern consumer units tend to trip at even a bulb blowing but how would you feel if something happened knowing it could have been prevented for £100?

Not many of our landlords go for electrical checks (or legionella assessments for that matter) as they are not a legal requirement but on my own properties I adopt a belt and braces approach as I have more than enough to worry about managing other peoples properties.

The day that a visual check becomes "not enough" is the day that I'll do whatever is necessary. The law clearly defines what's needed. I am confident in the visual checks I do (actually, I do more - I go around and use a little orange socket tester on all sockets) to not have any concerns about the safety of the Tenants.

Modern electrical installations are pretty safe... probably why it's the law that a visual check is enough. If you're talking about run-down piece-of-crap properties then that, thankfully, doesn't apply to me anyway.