Electrical Safety should be a Renter’s Right
During 2019, 58% of all accidental house fires in Northern Ireland were caused by electricity – this amounted to over one fire every day. Our own research also shows that private tenants are more at risk of electrical shock, compared to those living in other housing tenures.
We believe that private landlords should be required to complete regular, five-yearly electrical safety checks. These have now been in operation in Scotland since 2015 and are due to be implemented in both England and Wales.
Mandatory electrical checks in Northern Ireland’s PRS – of both the installation and any appliances supplied by a landlord – received unanimous support in a Department for Communities consultation[1], undertaken before the Assembly was suspended in 2017.
This would both help ensure tenants are protected from electrical risks, like other renters across the UK, and enhance a landlord’s maintenance and insurance of their assets.
We recently gained support for our campaign at the Alliance Party’s Conference in Belfast in March 2020.
Kellie Armstrong MLA, housing spokesperson,
photographed at the Alliance Party Conference
with Electrical Safety First's Deputy Public Affairs
Manager, Wayne Mackay.
To talk to us about this campaign or our wider policy work in Northern Ireland, please contact Wayne Mackay at: wayne.mackay@electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk
[1] https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/consultations/private-rented-sector-northern-ireland-proposals-change