Social housing electrical check.

[JenniferBooth]

Has anyone had this done and what did it entail.

Ive just received a letter saying that if i cancel the electric check with less than 24 hours notice this will be treated as failure to provide access to your property and legal action may follow. God forbid i have an emergency with my elderly mum or finally get the GP appointment to get my change in bowel habits looked into and i havent even booked the appointment yet. So there was no need for the bully boy tactics.

Could you just leave a key with a trusted neighbour if you get an appointment and leave a text for the electrician to collect it? If it's just an annual inspection it should only take an hour and will make sure your home is well maintained and safe.

Legal action would most likely be to recover costs of a failed call out charge from the electrical contractor.

Electric checks will be just that. To check your house electrics are safe and there is no risk to you or the property.

Not sure what people would do in an emergency apart from ask a friend or neighbour to come round if you had to go out.

Hopefully they have given you a date and approximate time.

Don't think these checks take long.

three hours apparently

They will be giving you the max time, it most likely won't take that long unless you live in a massive, massive house or they find significant issues.

Its just part and parcel of being in SH. Along with the wait in all day for a repair.

Its probably better to make the appointment for when you know you're not going anywhere and have someone who can be there if you have an emergency.

Then it might be a more in depth inspection and they might need to move some furniture about. You should probably be there for that. The letter does sound rudely worded though.

I doubt they would actually take legal action if you weren't there one time due to an emergency. But a keysafe might help.

its the cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy If it was about safety they woudnt have left my neighbour with water pissing through his kitchen light when we had the rooves done. they werent bothered about safety then. They refused to come out and he had to call the fire brigade.

God forbid you have an electrical fault and your house burns down? God people are so precious nowadays - given the thousands of properties the council will inspect and the amount of people that just won't bother staying in, this way people might pay attention and stay in or at least have the decency to call and explain if they had an emergency. The NHS also puts this on their letters now, but there would always be leeway in an emergency cancellation!

@Whatevershallidowithmylife read my previous post

These are planned inspections though. You can book an electrician months in advance.

I agree, it's nothing to do with safety and everything to do with maximising financial efficiency.

It won't ever change. Pick your battles.

Electric checks will most likely be a legal requirement for their insurance for the properties and a requirement of being landlords. They are not trying to be awkward.

I did, but that's not what the letter was about. If the leak was that bad there were likely multiple more serious issues elsewhere when all your neighbour had to do was switch the power off and hold tight till the council could come out, which is exactly what the fire brigade would have done.

@Whatevershallidowithmylife how about the HA take some accountability

They are a legal requirement. We carry them out and we would bill the landlord if we arrived at the property and there was no-one there or if we were cancelled last minute.

@Whatevershallidowithmylife HA didnt turn up till the monday the leak was on a Saturday night they POINT BLANK REFUSED to come out was he supposed to sit there with no electric all that time and let his food go off

If you were a homeowner what do you think would happen in an emergency if you weren't able to be in when you'd booked an electrician? That's right, you'd have to pay them for their time. I don't get the angst on this one.

id rather book my own then i would get a choice

The people fixing emergency leaks aren't the same people doing planned electrical inspections.

Just because you're cross on your neighbours behalf doesn't mean you can channel it into a routine appointment OP.

@Desecratedcoconut Its the hypocrisy. The water was coming through his kitchen light so into his ELECTRICS you cant lecture tenants about safety and then behave like this

No you wouldn't. You would have it done when the electrician had a free slot.

Luckily, his electrics were safe, presumably due to HA planned checks so nothing terrible happened in the end due to the leak. Not sure why you're so annoyed.

Oh, fgs, it's a letter. It's likely your eicr is due and they are coming to check your property is safe. It might be especially important if the fabric of your home has been compromised by water damage. This inspection will make sure that you are safe. I realize the letter may have been rude but this isn't a method to victimise you it's a legal requirement of all landlords.