Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has plans to reassess the deadline of 1 April 2021 for obtaining an electrical installation condition report in light of the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

Many landlords and agents take their responsibility seriously and already make sure electrical installations are safe. Even before these regulations came into force, landlords were legally required to make sure that their properties are free of serious electrical hazards. These regulations therefore require all landlords to do what good landlords already do — make sure the electrical installations in their rented properties are safe. However, landlord and agent groups have reported to us that there are still large numbers of rented properties with potentially dangerous electrical installations. This highlights just how important the regulations are, as poorly maintained electrical installations and electrical faults can cause deaths or injury and tenants are spending more, if not all, of their time in the home.

In order to allow landlords time to comply with the regulations they have been phased in. We have published guidance, for landlords, tenants and local authorities in the context of Covid-19 which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-and-renting-guidance-for-landlords-tenants-and-local-authorities.

The regulations are clear on the issue of compliance. A landlord will not be in breach of the duty to comply with a remedial notice if the landlord can show they have taken all reasonable steps to comply. We have also advised local authorities that we expect them to take a pragmatic and common-sense approach to enforcement of these regulations, and other standards in the private rented sector, and that the level of any penalty should be set taking into account likely harm and culpability.