NAPIT educates industry on PRS Regulations in England

Frank Bertie, NAPIT’s Chief Technical Officer, reflects on the success of the NAPIT webinar series that provided support to landlords, letting agents and local authorities on the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector Regulations (England) 2020.

Since early 2020, NAPIT has run a series of free webinars to provide details and an opportunity for questions on the Electrical Safety Standard in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020. In our most recent batch of webinars in November 2021 and January 2022, a total of 109 individuals from local authorities and 258 lettings agents and landlords joined the webinars. Over the whole period of running this webinar series, we have engaged with over 850 individuals from local authorities, letting agents and individual landlords.

The webinars discussed topics such as understanding Electrical Safety Reports, known as Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICR) within the trade, the meaning of a qualified and competent electrical contractor and how to find one, as well as a detailed overview of what the Regulations require of both landlords and local authorities.

The Regulations require private landlords to have every electrical installation in their residential premises inspected and tested at intervals of no more than 5 years by a qualified and competent person.

Commenting on NAPIT’s campaign, Kate Faulkner, Managing Director Propertychecklists.co.uk, said: ‘With new rules on electrical Regulations coming in over the last few years, it’s essential for landlords and agents to understand them – inside and out. NAPIT’s insightful and engaging presentations really explain things from their perspective, making it easier to understand how the Regulations work and the duties that an agent and landlords must undertake. It’s wonderful to see NAPIT taking the time to raise awareness of the Regulations and improve knowledge and understanding of individual landlords and agents.’

Feedback from webinar attendees showed 100% found the webinars were useful and easy to understand. Attendees noted that the webinars were ‘really helpful and informative’ and ‘speakers were clear and precise about the information provided’. Another attendee noted the webinars provided ‘an excellent overview of the new Regulations’.

Looking to the future, NAPIT are committed to continuing to provide guidance to the industry to support the enhancement of electrical safety standards. With the Welsh government introducing similar Regulations under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act, due to comes into force on the 15th of July 2022, NAPIT will be working on a new campaign to raise awareness of these changes to help those involved understand how the new Regulations will affect them.

For more information about the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 visit here

To purchase NAPIT’s publication ‘Landlords and Electrical Inspectors Guidance for the Private Rented Sector (PRS) Electrical Safety Checks’ visit here

Article Published: 05 April 2022