Yes, periodic inspections should be carried out when:

when a property is being prepared to be let
prior to selling a property or when buying a previously occupied property

Yes. It is important that electrical installation work is only carried out by people who are competent. This means people who have the knowledge, skill and experience needed to avoid dangers electricity can cause them and others. It’s easy to make an electrical circuit work but it’s far harder to make the circuit work safely.

Safety for you in your home is very important. It is recommended that you use a registered installer to carry out any electrical installation work you need. Registered installers will always work to the UK national standard BS 7671 (Requirements for Electrical Installations), and will issue a safety certificate for their electrical work to confirm that the installation has been designed, built, inspected and tested in line with that standard. This includes making any changes to an existing installation.

A Periodic Inspection is an inspection on the condition of an existing electrical installation, to identify and prioritise any problems against the national standard for safe electrical installations.

Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, landlords must ensure that fire risk assessments are carried out and are current on all properties that contain common areas such as stairs, hallways and landings. For more information, read the leaflet 'A short guide to making your premises safe from fire' on the Communities and Local Government web site.

Landlords' responsibilities for repairs

As a landlord, you must keep your property in good condition, and any gas or electrical systems must meet specified safety standards.

You are normally responsible for repairs to:

the structure of your property
basins, sinks, baths and other sanitary fittings
heating and hot water systems
any damage you cause through attempting repairs

If your property is seriously damaged by a fire, flood or other similar incident, you do not have to rebuild or renovate it. However, if you do, you cannot ask your tenants to pay a service charge for any repairs made.

If you own a block of flats, you will usually be responsible for repairing common areas, like staircases.

If a tenant is damaging another tenant's flat - for example if they leave water to overflow and it leaks into the flat below - you should try to stop the damage from continuing. You can ask the tenant responsible for the damage to pay for the repairs. Councils can ask landlords to fix problems in common areas, or to repair a tenant's flat that has been damaged by another tenant.
Tenants' responsibilities for repairs

As a tenant, you should only carry out repairs if the tenancy agreement says you can.

You should take reasonable care of the property - for example, by turning off the water at the mains to prevent burst pipes if you will be away during cold weather. You are also responsible for making repairs to put right any damage caused by your family and friends.

Your landlord is not obliged to repair anything that belongs to you in the property, unless it has been damaged because they didn't carry out their repair obligations, for example, not fixing a leaking roof.

Guide for repairs and landlords

Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) are being introduced to help improve the energy efficiency of buildings.

If you are buying or selling a home you now need a certificate by law. From October 2008 EPCs will be required whenever a building is built, sold or rented out. The certificate provides 'A' to 'G' ratings for the building, with 'A' being the most energy efficient and 'G' being the least, with the average up to now being 'D'.

Accredited energy assessors produce EPCs alongside an associated report which suggests improvements to make a building more energy efficient.

In 1996 the government made law that all landlords who rent part, or all of a property, must have all gas appliances and pipe work checked and a certificate to prove it every 12 months.

Landlords are required to ensure their gas installation tradesman is registered with the Gas Safe Register. This means they have the qualifications to carry out safe gas repairs and to provide your property with the annual gas safety check, called a CP12 Inspection. The Gas Safe Register approved engineer will then issue a CP12 Certificate. For legal compliance a landlord needs to keep this certificate current and to supply their tenants with a copy. It is also the duty of landlords to ensure that the gas appliances and flues they provide for tenants' use are maintained in a safe condition at all times

If you smell gas or are worried about gas safety, you can call National Grid on 0800 111 999 at any time, day or night.

Your call will not cost you anything*. Just pick up the phone, dial the number and you will be put through to a trained operator who will take all the details.

If you are deaf or hearing impaired and have a Minicom or Textphone the number to call is 0800 371 787. *All calls to the National Gas Emergency Service and National Enquiry lines may be recorded and monitored

We have a network of engineers working in all areas of the UK.

We can carry out property management services including CP12's, PAT Testing, safety inspections for gas, electrical and fire. We have engineers available for all types of gas and electric repairs, installations, emergencies and servicing.