Is this fusebox safe?

[Elizabella]

I am not an electrician and live in an HMO with VERY dodgy landlords. This is the fusebox in the house. I thought the green wire is the grounding wire but as you can see it is exposed and looped. Is this dangerous? If anyone knows anything about electrics/electrical wiring please could you weigh in x

It's unusual but not unsafe unless you happen to be licking it during an earthing fault.
I that HMOs require an electrical inspection so ask for the certificate.

No, bare wires are always dangerous. Contact your council housing standards team if your landlord is an arse.

The green, and the green-and-yellow, are (should be) main bonds, and earthed. Because they are attached to water and gas pipes in your house, and indirectly bonded to your taps, radiators, cooker, fridge, toaster and kettle, they are as safe to touch as your taps or any metal light switches are. They are all (supposed to be) bonded together so that if you touch any two of them at the same time, there can be no voltage between them so you can't get a shock.

The exposed and twisted part is where it was previously fixed to something, probably a screw on some metal enclosure. All the metal casings in your picture are (should be) connected to them.

There is nothing in your pic suggesting they are unsafe. I can't blow up the pic big enough to follow all the connections.

you can check your rights via the how to rent guide on gov.uk. If your landlord is dodgy then you can report them, although in practice nothing will be done.

even if this is London, there are always other places without dodgy landlords. Don't feed crooks.

New tenants need to have an electrical safety certificate issued (new tenancies from June this year ) Existing tenants the electricity supply needs to be tested and need to be given a certificate by April 2021, the certificate is valid for 5 years. www.gov.uk/government/publications/electrical-safety-standards-in-the-private-rented-sector-guidance-for-landlords-tenants-and-local-authorities/guide-for-landlords-electrical-safety-standards-in-the-private-rented-sector

It's probably fine; just an older installation. If the earth wire was completely disconnected it would have passed any electrical inspection that I think landlords are legally compelled to perform every X years.

Thanks everyone. Someone who is a registered electrician got back tome late last night and told me that what IS going on is that the meter has been tampered with so it bypasses the meter. In other words, the LL s stealing electricity!!!

Basically they are criminals!

My H is an electrician and he's just had a look at your pic. Yes, your meter is by-passed.

Hi ReedWarbler, Thank you so much for showing this to your H and for posting. I know this is illegal because they are basically stealing electricity but could you ask him if this is immediately dangerous for us tenants in terms of safety? I had absolutely no idea what I was looking at apart from that looped, bare wire which I was worried about. I am going to go through this HMO with my phone taking pictures today to prepare a file of all the breaches these greedy, horrible, criminal landlords are doing so I can report them!

He said it has been done very well, in that to a layman it looks like it is still connected. Apparently (I know nothing about these things) the two grey cables on the left hand side of your main picture should be running through the meter instead of straight up into your fuse box. I didn't show him the other pictures and he's gone out, but if you are concerned the only answer is to phone your power supplier and report it as an emergency. As for bare wires, just leave well alone and don't go poking around. You could just report it as a possible dangerous bit of wiring and leave them to find out its been by passed. I don't know if it's dangerous to your household, sorry. You need to get a man in I'm afraid!

ah - so that's what is going on. Your landlord is disgusting.

however hard it is, whatever it costs, however much hassle - move. While you can (and should) report as you are planning, there is very little enforcement, especially in London. The only way to deal with these crooks is to stop paying them.

keep the evidence for your next landlord in case references are requested; and make very sure you don't fall into the clutches of another crook.