In a debate taking place this week in Westminster a Hampshire MP is tabling that in future all landlords will be responsible for the electrical safety for their properties that they rent out.

 

The MP for Eastleigh, Mike Thornton, will strongly advise the government to make it a legal requisite that all landlords should provide electrical safety certificates alongside the mandatory gas checks for rented homes.

Thornton is passionate about the cause after one of his constituents in Netley Abbey raised concerns about the electrics in his home.

The tenant, Malcolm Parker 45, told him that on moving into his rented property in August 2011, he found that sockets and wires were extremely dangerous as they were left hanging out of walls and the deathtrap also had some of the electrics very close to the plumbing.

He said: “I could not understand it. I raised it with my letting agent and I was told there was no regulation for it and that they did not have to be tested. I couldn’t believe that, but when I spoke to the Electrical Safety Council they confirmed it.

“You can’t blame the landlord or the tenants, because there is nothing in place. I brought it up with the MP a month and a half ago, and it’s brilliant how it has snowballed to this stage.”

Within current law there is no requirement for landlords to provide certification of electrical safety or to prove when they were last tested in the properties that they rent, unless they are registered houses of multiple occupation.

Mr. Thornton said: “With more and more people now renting their homes, it’s more important than ever that tenants can live safe in the knowledge that the electrics in their home have been tested and certified.

 

“The Government must realise that the current laws are just not up to scratch. Electrical safety certificates should be mandatory in the same way gas safety certificates are.”

The director general of the charity ESC Phil Buckle, commented: “Half of all fires in homes in Britain are caused by electricity and research suggests that private tenants are likely to be at greater risk of fire than residents in other housing sectors.” The charity has been campaigning over the last four years for mandatory checking of electrical safety in rented homes.