The Social Housing Draft will pave the way to remove inequalities in the law, whereby private tenants are protected by mandatory five-yearly electrical safety checks but social tenants are not
The new Social Housing Draft released by the government could see mandatory electrical safety checks required in England’s social housing. These protections could benefit over 4 million households living in the social rented sector and create parity with the private rented sector.
The Social Housing Draft is a major step toward electrical safety protection, and would establish electrical safety checks for social housing tenants by amending current legislation so that it also applied to ‘a registered provider of social housing’.
Following extensive campaigning by Electrical Safety First over the years, the government enacted new laws in 2020 that introduced five-yearly electrical safety checks in the private rental sector, protecting millions of people from electrical hazards.
‘Ensuring that social housing tenants are better protected from electrical dangers’
Commenting on the publication of the regulations, Lesley Rudd, chief executive of Electrical Safety First said: “Today’s draft regulations are a real step in the right direction to ensuring that social housing tenants are better protected from electrical dangers and that the housing sector and landlords have clarity on safety standards.
“We look forward to working very closely with the Government and await the announcement of the consultation.”
The government is yet to consult on electrical safety standards in the social rented sector and any secondary legislation would be subject to the outcome of the consultation, due to take place in the summer of this year.
