I had one done for a large studio flat, it was done in less than 5 mins.
Ridiculous . That electrician could not possibly have done good job.. Just because a electrician is a member of NICIEC does not mean they are qualified to give a âsafety certificateâ .They may only just be approved to do installations..
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Guarantee he was laughing as he left.
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The electrics in the flat were only 6 years old, a complete rewiring and a new fuse box were installed following severe leak from a flat above. Maybe this was the case?
He was booked through the openrent, I did not mind as I knew the electrics were ok as relatively new. I really nedded only the certificate.
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Well if new ish electrics means its safe it wouldnât be a requirement to have these tests every 5 years even for new electrics.
How many years old would it need to be before you decided a âproperâ EICR was needed? Based on what?
Even with new electrics all sorts of things can lead to a potentially dangerous fault - tenants making alterations, overloaded sockets /too much use of extension cables / rodents chewing cables
Just remember itâs legally your responsibility as LL to ensure the electrics are safe (even tho you may have no electrical training) not just to obtain a piece of paper. I would be complaining to OR, getting a refund and finding a contractor who did the job properly, not just hoping for the best.
Good luck
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They didnât perform the test to the standard thats required and what they were paid to do. Itâs simply not possible in that amount of time.
Would you be ok with just a gas safe cert but no actual test performed?
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When it was rewired was a certificate issued then? Was it in your ownership then?
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Iâm getting more and more angry about all this certification nonsense. It seems like you need the certificate to comply with landlord regulations but no-one actually checks if the property is actually safe. Yet guess who is responsible if a tenant is injured as a result of faulty wiring/gas leak/etc? So last year, by pure fortune, we visited our HMO flat to inspect it, a day after the agency had sent a gas engineer to service the boiler and do the certification. First thing we noticed on entering was a smell of gasâŚâŚâŚthank GodâŚâŚ.the engineer had damaged the connection to the meter. Transco came within an hour and changed the meter (no charge). Imagine what could have happenedâŚ.not just our flat, the whole street could have gone up in flames! We learnt that less experienced gas engineers can do this when they overtightening the valve, causing a crack. I did call the register to check he was actually on it and he was: for a few months only. The person on the phone was very reluctant to tell me but did once I said he was obliged to. Iâm rapidly coming to believe that itâs important to avoid companies that only do tests and certificates but donât actually do regular work as electricians or gas engineers; some of them make a lot of money just doing certification work but donât do any remedial work. Meanwhile, the letting agents and factors are getting their cut. It is really getting expensive to be a landlord.
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Use your own elec and gas engineer who you know. I have never used any agency people .,had same elec man for 30 years till he retired. He had worked on MY jobs so I knew the quality of his work Cen heating guy ,I have used for about 10 years
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Sorry to hear of your experience. There are cowboys in every trade and sounds like you had a lucky escape.
if he wasnât on the gas safe register at the time he did your work
a) it wonât be valid and you will need a new certificate asap
b) he will have committed a criminal offence and should be formally reported to the gas safe register and HSE and prosecuted (you and your tenants are the victims).
c) you should reclaim costs from the agency who appointed him on the grounds they didnât check the qualifications of their contractor who didnât (wasnât able to) provide a gas certificate produced by a current gas safe registered engineer, putting your tenants at risk and exposing you to a risk of v high fines. I would put them on notice that any further similar mistakes on safety issues and you will take your business elsewhere and sue them for unacceptable service.
(Failure to have a valid gas safety certificate is a criminal offense, which can lead to prosecution and fines up to ÂŁ6,000. Your insurance may be invalid. You can face a rent repayment order up to 12 months rent for a period without a valid certificate)
Sorry if obvious
Good luck
Thanks. He was on the register, I phoned to check. I donât use them now anyway because they refuse to take responsibility, I use a different company now.
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Quality electricians that post on Youtube about their experiences are lamenting about the â race to the bottom â in pricing terms of some qualified elecricians doing EICRâs for ÂŁ50 and taking under an hour. The paperwork alone even if done on a tablet on site and printed off later (there is software that makes this easy to select the relevent options ) takes 30 mins to do properly and with âdue diligenceâ . OR have been scammed just like you have for letting this joker on their books. For a decent EICR on a 2 bed property and a modern consumer unit should take 2 Hours to check Bonding of bathroom and meter earthing, Continuity of the earth ( could be incomplete) on all circuits, The PFC ( Prospective Fault Earth Current - if there is a fault to earth - will the installation trip properly and save a life !!). Millisecond response of the RCD trips - if fitted, and if not why not. There is so much to ensuring a safe and compliant house thats not going to kill someone in future (same with gas) .A brand new domestic installation can be done by a less than competent electrician and then you as LL are responsible to keep your tenants from harm the next time an inspection is needed.
Safety first every time !! There are brilliant Electricians and Gas engineers out there, its finding them is tricky, but they do cost.
â Used some gadget to check a plug socketâ - these can be MFTâs - Multi function testers - a generic term for a Megger, Di-Log, Fluke or similar tester that cost ÂŁ1000âs when new & calibrated and electricans cannot do any testing without one these days. I have 2 x in my cupboard which I use as an interested consumer from time to time. Apologies for the rant !!
Or a socket tester at ÂŁ7.99 in Toolstation !
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see â Artisan Electricsâ he talks sense. and â Cory Mac - ĂY Electricalâ
Sorry, Are you havinâ a laugh???