Electrical compliance for rentals is genuinely simple law wrapped in genuinely poor habits. The requirements fit on an index card; the panic comes from discovering them at renewal, mid-dispute, or when a council letter arrives. The cure is a calendar, not a lawyer.
CAN Electrical Contractors Limited runs landlord checks across Leeds for single lets and portfolios, and this is the index card, expanded just enough to act on.
The EICR cycle and its two clocks
Rented properties need a satisfactory EICR at least every five years, or sooner where the report says so, with a copy to tenants and to the council on request. New tenancies need the current report supplied before occupation; new landlords inherit whatever cycle the paperwork shows, which is why the report belongs in the purchase bundle.
The second clock starts on an unsatisfactory report: remedial work completed within 28 days, or any shorter period the report states, with written confirmation to tenant and council on request. That is the clock landlords miss, and CAN Electrical Contractors Limited schedules remedials against it from the inspection date, not from whenever the invoice conversation finishes.
- Satisfactory EICR at least five-yearly, copies to tenants.
- Unsatisfactory findings: 28 days to complete remedials.
- New tenancy: current report before occupation.
Alarms and the tenancy-start ritual
Smoke alarms are required on every storey used as living accommodation, proven working at the start of each tenancy, and carbon monoxide alarms belong in any room with a fixed combustion appliance. The tenancy-start check is the legally loaded moment: alarms tested, and the test recorded with a date and signature or photo.
The practical upgrade worth making once is mains-powered interlinked alarms with battery backup: they end the flat-battery argument, they satisfy every letting standard comfortably, and they turn the tenancy-start ritual into a button press with a paper trail.
- Smoke alarms per storey, tested at tenancy start, recorded.
- Carbon monoxide alarms with fixed combustion appliances.
- Interlinked mains alarms end the battery lottery.
The folder that answers everyone
Every compliance conversation, agents, councils, deposit schemes, insurers, buyers, is a documents conversation: the current EICR, remedial certificates, alarm test records, and the dates of the next renewals. One folder per property, digital, boringly named, answers all of them in minutes.
The folder is also the portfolio's early-warning system: renewal dates visible in one place, booked in the quiet months, never discovered at reletting. Compliance run from a folder costs a fraction of compliance run from memory.
Access without the standoff
The recurring failure point is access: inspections need hours inside, tenants need proper notice, and evasive tenancies need a documented trail of attempts. Written notice with offered alternatives, a tenant who understands the visit protects them, and records of every attempt is the pattern that satisfies both the law's reasonable-steps expectation and the council's questions.
An electrician tenants have met before, who arrives when arranged and leaves things tidy, is a compliance asset in itself: known visitors get let in. That, plus the calendar, is the whole machine.
Related pages
Questions customers ask
How often does a rental property need an EICR?
At least every five years, or sooner if the current report specifies a shorter interval, with copies to tenants and the report available for the council. New tenancies need the current report before moving in.
What happens if the EICR is unsatisfactory?
Remedial work must be completed within 28 days, or sooner where the report says so, with written confirmation available. Treat the clock as starting on inspection day.
What alarm checks do landlords need at tenancy start?
Working smoke alarms on each storey and carbon monoxide alarms where fixed combustion appliances exist, tested and recorded on day one of the tenancy. The record matters as much as the test.
Five-year cycle, 28-day clock, alarms at tenancy start, one folder per property: that is the whole law, and it runs itself once it lives on a calendar.
CAN Electrical Contractors Limited keeps Leeds landlords on that calendar, inspections through remedials through records. The contact page starts it.
