If you let out a property in Scotland, electrical safety isn’t optional paperwork. It’s a statutory duty. Here’s the short, practical version.
What the law requires
Under Scottish Government statutory guidance, a private landlord must have the property’s electrics inspected by a competent person:
- before a tenancy starts, and
- at intervals of no more than five years after that.
The inspection covers the fixed installation (wiring, consumer unit, sockets, light fittings) and is recorded in an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR). Appliances you supply with the tenancy (cookers, washing machines and so on) need portable appliance testing (PAT) alongside it.
A copy of the report should be given to the tenant, and any faults it identifies need to be put right by someone qualified to do so.
What an EICR actually tells you
An EICR grades what it finds. Broadly:
- C1: danger present, needs immediate attention
- C2: potentially dangerous, remedial work required
- C3: improvement recommended (not a failure)
- FI: further investigation needed
An installation with C1 or C2 items is recorded as unsatisfactory until they’re fixed, so it pays to use a contractor who can both inspect and carry out remedial work rather than juggling two firms.
Don’t forget the alarms
Electrical compliance in Scotland goes beyond the EICR: every home must also meet the interlinked smoke and heat alarm standard, and rented properties are expected to have carbon monoxide detection where there’s a carbon-fuelled appliance. We’ve covered the detail in our smoke and heat alarms guide.
Where we come in
Inspection and testing is one of the work categories on DD Electrical’s TrustMark listing, and remedial work, from consumer unit upgrades to alarm installation, is everyday work for us across Dundee and the surrounding towns. If a compliance date is creeping up on a property of yours, get in touch and we’ll take it from there.
This guide summarises Scottish Government guidance at the time of writing. Always check the current statutory guidance on gov.scot for your own circumstances.