What Is Safe?
It is not mandatory to have electrical equipment checked each year but good practice. Failing to make sure that electrical equipment and appliances are safe is a criminal offence. It is an offence to supply any electrical equipment that doesn’t comply with the regulations which state that any electrical equipment supplied should:
• Be safe
• Be made in line with safety measures
• Meet safety objectives
The 1994 regulations require that the electrical equipment itself, the packaging, the printed instructions or the guarantee must be marked with the letters ‘CE’ to show they comply with requirements.
As a landlord you should make sure that appliances are regularly serviced and instruction manuals are given to tenants. Although there is no requirement to have electrical items checked there is a legal duty for them to be safe. You can make sure they are safe by regular checks. If there was an injury or fatality in a property where there was a fire due to an electrical fault it would be up to the landlord and or agent to prove retrospectively that the electrics were safe. This is impossible without documentary evidence that safety checks had been carried out.