Communities and Local Government CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by the National Landlords Association
Summary
The NLA recognises the importance of both electrical and gas safety in the home.
NLA landlords have not highlighted any serious concerns from landlords about how Part P currently works.
In respect to any proposed reforms affecting Part P, the utmost concern to landlords will be having certainty over their responsibilities.
The NLA will be looking to organisations and the Government to provide a clear idea of what alternatives to Part P might look like in practice.
Landlords will want to ensure any reform does not increase direct or indirect burdens on landlord looking to ensure they are meeting their electrical and gas safety requirements.
About the National Landlords Association
The National Landlords Association (NLA) is UK’s leading organisation for private-residential landlords. It has over 20,000 paid-up members, ranging from full-time landlords with large property portfolios to those with just a single letting. NLA membership helps landlords make a success of their lettings business by providing a wide range of information, advice and services. The NLA campaigns for the legitimate interests of landlords by seeking to influence decision-makers at all levels of government and by making landlords’ collective voice heard in the media. It seeks to raise standards in the private-rented sector while aiming to ensure that landlords are aware of their statutory rights and responsibilities. Based at its head office in Central London, the NLA currently employs over 40 full-time staff and has a network of more than 40 regional representatives and branches throughout the UK.
Introduction
The National Landlords Association (NLA) welcomes Committee’s inquiry into Building Regulations applying to electrical and gas installations and repairs in dwellings. The NLA recognises the importance of both electrical and gas safety in the home, irrespective of the tenure of the property.
The private-rented sector already has significantly higher regulatory responsibilities when it comes to gas safety. Annual gas safety checks have been mandatory in the private rented sector since 1998. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires the landlord to ensure the electrical installation is safe when the tenancy begins and that it is maintained in a safe condition throughout that tenancy.
Part P, Building Regulations
The NLA provides members with access to a dedicated advice line where they can obtain expert advice on the full range of landlording issues. This advice line receives upwards of 30,000 calls per year. In addition the NLA regularly conducts research amongst NLA members to identify relevant issues affecting the sector and landlords more generally.
Both our recent research amongst landlords and a review of the calls received by the NLA’s advice line over the last year have not highlighted any serious concerns from landlords about how Part P currently works. That isn’t to say that the system is working perfectly, or that improvements cannot be made, just that landlords are not highlighting particular problems with the current regulations.
In respect to any proposed reforms affecting Part P, the utmost concern to landlords will be having certainty over their responsibilities. Any alternative system should leave the landlord more confident that they understand and can meet their responsibilities. A lack of ambiguity is critical in ensuring that landlords can confidently have works carried out for and on behalf of their tenants.
Being able to easily identify those persons sufficiently qualified to undertake work that may come under Part P is crucial. One of the benefits of gas safety regulation is the security landlords have in knowing that a Gas Safe gas engineer is approved to undertake necessary works.
The NLA will be looking to organisations and the Government to provide a clear idea of what alternatives to Part P might look like in practice. Landlords will want to ensure any reform does not increase direct or indirect burdens on landlord looking to ensure they are meeting their electrical and gas safety requirements.
February 2012