Rental Property Test Certificate

[Barrysh]

Hi I own a rented flat which will shortly be vacated so will get be an ideal time to get it tested to comply with the new legislation. I served my time as an electrician and did 5 years in a contracting environment but moved onto other things so obviously I'm not qualified to do it. It's an ex Council flat and the installation appears to be in good condition. It is protected by a circuit breaker board but not the latest metal cased type. What will the tester be looking for that I could possibly check over first. Thanks

 

[Camallison]

The newest guidelines are badly written, leaving room for misunderstanding. As I see it, remediation or 'condemned' only applies to faults, not a need to retrospectively apply the newest edition of the regs. If your installation complied with regs as they were when the consumer unit was installed then no action needed. All lighting circuits installed after 1966 require earth wiring to metal fittings. If you have had metal light fittings installed since then, they must be earthed. Of course, the history of work on your system before you bought the property will be a total unknown to you. As I said, the guidelines are vague and, unfortunately, easily misinterpreted. Maybe with your past knowledge just look for the obvious safety items and not things that don't comply with 18th edition. I was taught on 13th edition and so anything since would be news to me. My consumer unit is plastic, renewed 7 years ago, but an extension new installation wired from it last year didn't entail it being changed to metal. ONLY the new wiring needed to comply with the current edition with a sticker to say there may be different colours for live and neutral. The certificate was issued just for the new wiring and satisfied an independent building control firm.
Colon

 

[He who knows]

I suggest you read this https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/switch-next-to-sink.557383/ and be prepared for " What will the tester be looking for?" to be "Whatever he can con you into having done".

Don't leave getting it done until the 28-day clock is ticking.

Tell whoever does it that they are only going to be used for testing, and will not be getting any remedial work.

Consider doing an 18th Edition 2382 so that you can do any remedial work, and so that you can "discuss" any obviously bogus C2s with the tester. Tell him that you'll want to sit down and read through the report with him before you pay for it. Anybody who isn't happy with that or with not getting remedial work is probably planning to stitch you up.