MP leading a national campaign to mandate electrical appliance testing in ALL rented properties

Government statistics for 2016-17 show that a faulty electrical appliance was the second largest cause of accidental house fires in the UK and  while Scotland adopted new mandatory electrical testing standards for rented properties in 2015 there are no legal requirements for landlords to carry out regular PAT tests in the rest of the UK.  This despite landlords being responsible for ensuring electrical installation and appliances are safe and being open to criminal charges should they fail to prove they took steps to confirm their safety following the death or injury of a tenant resulting from for example a fire caused by an appliance.
At Martin & Co we have advised our landlords to have the electrical installation of their properties certified as safe and for annual appliance testing to be implemented.  Following the Grenfell fire which is believed to have originated from a faulty domestic appliance, scrutiny in this area seems inevitable, and we expect electrical safety certification to become mandatory (as it already is for Gas appliances) over the coming year to 18 months.