Electrical safety for tenants
Keeping you safe in your home is a top priority for us. If you have an assured, secure, or fixed term tenancy, in general we’re responsible for repairing and maintaining the structure of your home, any communal areas and the fittings we’ve provided.
(If you're a shared owner or leaseholder, our electrical safety for shared owners or leaseholders page tells you more about your responsibility for electrical safety tests; asking for permission to carry out alterations, additions and improvements to your home that may affect your electrics; and making sure a qualified electrical engineer carries out any electrical work. This is to make sure that you and your neighbours are kept safe.)
Electrical safety checks
If you have an assured, secure, or fixed term tenancy, our responsibilities include a legal duty to check the electrical fixed wiring in your home before you move in, and throughout your tenancy. Faulty electrics can cause electrocution and fires, so we need to make sure that everything is in good working order.
We do this by carrying out regular electrical safety checks. Regulations allow these to be done every ten years but, as a responsible landlord, we’ve opted to inspect homes every five years to make sure they’re safe and fit for continued use.
Please note, if you live in a newly-built property or one that’s been fully rewired, it may still be ten years before the first inspection and then every five years after that.
If you have any wiring that is broken, doesn’t look right or you have any concern about your electrical safety, please contact us.
Keeping your appointment
If you’re a tenant, we'll give you an electrical safety check appointment. If you can't make this, please contact us as soon as possible (if your appointment's today or tomorrow please call us rather than contact us another way), so we can re-book your appointment and give the slot to someone else.
By signing your tenancy agreement you've agreed to allow us into your home for your electrical safety check. If you don't respond or repeatedly refuse to give us access to your property, we'll apply for a court order to do so, and you could even lose your home. Please don't let it get to this stage. If you have any concerns, please contact us as soon as possible and we can talk through any worries.
What you can expect when we carry out the safety checks
Electrical safety tests:
- help keep you safe from electrical fires and heat damage.
- help reduce the chance of anyone getting an electric shock (which can be fatal).
- help reduce the risk of electrical burns.
- make immediate dangers safe.
- make sure you’ve got the correct protection on circuits.
- make sure your smoke alarms are working so you have time to escape if there’s a fire.
- replace your smoke alarms if they’re nearing the end of their life expectancy.
- test your carbon monoxide detectors and change them if they are coming towards the end of their life expectancy.
- check any fixed electrical storage, convector and fan heaters for homes which rely on this source of heating.
- check that all the hard wiring (the cabling you can’t see, hidden in the fabric of your home), switches, sockets and fittings aren’t damaged or in need of replacement.
- Check the consumer unit (fusebox) that contains all the fuses, circuit-breakers, residual current devices (RCDs) and arc fault detection devices (AFDDs).
*Please note, we don’t check your personal electrical items (such as kettles or hairdryers) during the electrical inspection.
How you can help us
- You must be at home while our engineer carries out the inspection. Please make sure someone over the age of 18 is in the whole time we’re there – as we can’t be in your home unsupervised.
- The engineer will need access to all the rooms in your home. If you have a shed/outbuilding with electrical power, they’ll also need access to this. They may also need access to your loft (if you have one).
- The power will need to be switched off for a short time, but we’ll work in a professional way and keep this necessary disruption to a minimum.
- We’ll complete a condition report when we carry out these checks. They also help to identify any repairs or upgrades that may be needed. We’ll complete these during the same visit, whenever possible – making sure your home is electrically sound for another five years.
Making changes that affect your electrics
To make your home your own, you might want to make changes or do some DIY – but it’s important you don’t start any work that may affect your electrics without speaking to us first.
We will talk to you about your requirements, if it’s something we can support you with or the best way to find a competent electrician to suit your needs. Please contact us to discuss this.
If we agree to allow you to make changes to your electrics, we will need a copy of the certification from the electrician, who must be a member of a recognised competency scheme such as the NICEIC, ECA or NAPIT.
Electrical safety tips
If you have an electrical supply, it's really important you know where and how to turn this off in an emergency. (In a house, this is usually located on the ground floor in the hallway, under the stairs or in a kitchen cupboard and normally very close to the electric meter.)
To help keep you, your family and neighbours safe, please follow this electrical safety advice.
- Faulty appliances are a common cause of fires in the home - so check your electrical appliances to make sure there’s no evidence of faults, loose or exposed wires.
- Where possible, turn off and unplug any unused appliances.
- Avoid running appliances like washing machines, tumble dryers or dishwashers running overnight or when you’re out (as you won’t be around to spot any problems). Clean lint from tumble dryers.
- Take care in the kitchen - keep electrical appliances and leads away from water.
- Don’t use the top of the microwave for extra storage.
- Never take mains-powered electrical items into the bathroom.
- Make sure electrical appliances have a British or European safety mark when you buy them and only buy from reputable places.
You can register your domestic appliances 
to be the first to find out if any safety issues or recalls affect you. It's easy to do and free.
- Don't overload sockets or daisy chain sockets together (where you plug multiple extensions into each other) – this is extremely dangerous. Electrical Safety First has an online ‘socket calculator’ to help you check that yours are safe: https://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/guidance/safety-around-the-home/overloading-sockets/
- Check that visible cables and leads are in good condition.
- Never trail cables under carpets or rugs.
- Make sure that plugs and sockets aren’t damaged.
- Check that you aren’t storing combustible materials around your fuse box, electricity meter or electrical intake.
- Check that your light fittings aren’t visibly damaged and that downlighters are in good working condition.
- Turn off lights when you’re not in rooms – this is safer and helps saves energy too.
- Check your fire and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors at least monthly.
- Don't cover chargers or battery packs when you’re charging as this could let them overheat.
- Don't over-charge batteries.
- Cheap or faulty phone chargers have also caused several fires in Sovereign homes so only buy products from reputable places.
- Store and charge these safely: don't store or charge them in communal areas of a block (except if there’s a dedicated area for mobility scooters).
- Store these somewhere cool, rather than in a very hot or cold area.
- Follow the manufacturer's instructions when you charge the battery and don't leave this charging constantly, overnight or unattended.
- Make sure batteries are not damaged and let them cool down before you recharge them.