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Renfrewshire Council Annual Report 2008 - 2009 Safety of electrical appliances supplied in rented accommodation
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All electrical appliances, including cookers, refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, toasters, kettles, vacuum cleaners and irons provided in rented accommodation must be safe, whether they are new or used.
By law, landlords don't normally have to test such equipment unless their properties are houses in multiple occupation (HMO's).
By law, landlords don't normally have to test such equipment unless their properties are houses in multiple occupation (HMO's).
However, our advice is that all landlords should have their appliances tested once a year to protect their tenants from danger and to protect the landlord from possible prosecution if an appliance causes injury or death. You could also invalidate your products and/or public liability insurance by failing to test your appliances.
We recommend that you use a qualified electrician who is a member of SELECT (the Electrical Contractors' Association of Scotland) or NICEIC (the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting). You can also find qualified electricians on our Trusted Trader webpage.
The electrician carrying out the testing, which is known as P.A.T testing because a 'portable appliance testing' device is used, should identify each appliance on a test report and record the results of the relevant electrical and visual tests.
As the landlord, you should keep the test reports to show you are taking positive steps to keep your appliances safe.
We also recommend that the electrician attaches a permanent label to each appliance giving the name and address of his company. This label should be initialled and dated by the electrician and show whether the appliance has passed or failed the tests. We recommend that electricians use colour coded labels to avoid confusion. The label should be green if the appliance passes and red if it fails.
We recommend that you also carry out a visual inspection of all your appliances at each change of tenant unless it coincides with the annual P.A.T testing by your electrician.
You should check that the cables are not damaged or worn and that there is no access to live parts other than with the use of a tool.
You should check that the cables are not damaged or worn and that there is no access to live parts other than with the use of a tool.
You should also check the 3-pin plugs to see that there are protective sleeves on the neutral and live pins and that the body of each plug is not cracked or broken.
The cord grips should securely clamp the cable entering the plug. Remember that two pin plugs are illegal for mains connection.
The cord grips should securely clamp the cable entering the plug. Remember that two pin plugs are illegal for mains connection.
Further detailed advice can be found on the Directgov website.
Contact information
- email: ts.es@renfrewshire.gov.uk
- phone: 0141 840 3184 (select option 2)
- call in or write to us at:
- Renfrewshire Council
Environmental Services
Trading Standards
Renfrewshire House
Cotton Street
Paisley
PA1 1BR
