New tougher safety standards to protect tenants backed by Horsham District Council

The majority of landlords who rent properties in the private sector provide good quality homes, where their tenants are safe and secure, a spokeswoman for the council said. This is a serious responsibility and includes making sure that the electrics are safe, including power points, lighting and fuse boxes.

From July 1 this year, new regulations also set requirements for regular inspections to be carried out, and production of safety certificates by properly qualified electricians.

Horsham District Council’s Environmental Health and Licensing team is responsible for enforcing this legislation, and where a landlord fails to provide a suitable safety certificate at the start of the tenancy, repair a fault, or comply with other safety requirements, the team can require the landlord to comply, and/or impose a civil penalty of up to a maximum of £30,000, for each offence, or continuing failure.

Horsham District Council cabinet member for community matters and wellbeing Cllr Tricia Youtan said: “As a council we welcome these new regulations which are being put in place for the protection of our residents who are tenants in private properties.

“Rest assured that if landlords do fail to comply, our enforcement team will not hesitate to take the necessary action.

“The new laws will ensure that a rented property is electrically safe at the start, and throughout the life of the tenancy.”

All fixed electrical installations must now be inspected and tested, at least every five years, by a competent electrician. Also for any new tenancy, granted from 1 July 2020, they must have been inspected before the property is let and safety certificates, in the form of an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR), must be given to new tenants at the start of the tenancy. For existing tenancies, certificates will need to be provided from 1 April 2021.

If a fault is found, or certain improvements identified, they must be carried out within strict timescales, the spokeswoman said.

Further information is available on the council’s website or for more email the Environmental Health team at [email protected]