David Cox, legal and compliance director at Rightmove, has warned agents that there will be no extension or grace period in place for the Electrical Safety Standards Regulations, and all tenancies in England will need to meet the new requirements by 1 April.

Cox, the former ARLA Propertymark chief executive, joined Rightmove in November 2020. He took part in a webinar hosted by repairs and maintenance software provider Fixflo this week.

When asked if landlords would be able to use the Covid-19 situation as a defence for not having a valid EICR (electrical inspection condition report) in place, a key criterion of the new electrical safety standards, Cox said: “If you’ve got a tenant refusing, as long as you’ve made reasonable efforts and you can document those.”

He stressed that the “hard and fast” law is still clear on the April date and went on to tell agents that in order to demonstrate that “reasonable efforts” have been made, agents must consider the level of significance of electrical safety issues and reflect that consideration in the property management services they provide.

He added: “This is a big safety issue – it’s electrical safety, the same level as gas safety. What is a reasonable time? It is probably shorter than if it was a different piece of legislation. So maybe check in with tenants once a month and record the outcomes if they still won’t allow you access for EICRs and remedial works.”

Another challenge facing agents is the lack of supply of electricians and contractors competent for EICRs and remedial works. However, Cox also reminded agents that this might not be an excuse accepted by enforcement bodies.

He continued: “I sat on the electrical safety working group that was advising on these regulations. And somebody else on that group, a well-known business, said, ‘Look, we’re the largest provider of these (EICRs) in the country … the supply chain just doesn’t exist.’”

“We have had a year. I know a lot of people were putting it off to the last minute and then trying to get them (EICRs) now. And obviously, there’s a massive backlog. You can evidence that you have tried, but I can’t guarantee it’s going to protect you. Because if you didn’t start until February or March, an enforcement body would say, well, you knew about this last year, why didn’t you start looking at doing something about it in August, which is a fair argument and a fair assessment. But if you can show that you’ve sorted it now, that you’ve got an EICR appointment booked in for late April and May, it should give you a certain degree of protection.

“The Coronavirus legislation says that local authority should be taking a pragmatic approach to enforcement.”