There are two main Acts of Parliament that impose a statutory duty on landlords
with respect to the safety of electrical equipment:
1. The Consumer Protection Act 1987
2. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
The Consumer Protection Act affects all persons who let property in the course of
their business because it defines them as “suppliers”, i.e. they are supplying goods
to the tenant. There are several items of secondary legislation under the umbrella of
the Consumer protection Act which are directly relevant to the supply of electrical
goods, including:
1. The Low Voltage Electrical Equipment Regulations 1989
2. The Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994
3. The General Product Safety Regulations 1994
4. The Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994
In essence, these regulations impose a duty on landlords to ensure that all
electrical equipment supplied by them is safe for use by the tenant. The Consumer
Protection Act provides a defence of ‘due diligence’, i.e. a landlord can defend a
contravention of the Act if he can demonstrate that he took reasonable steps to
avoid committing the offence.
In summary, a landlord has duties both as a ‘supplier of goods’ and as the ‘person
responsible’ for an electrical installation. As a ‘supplier of goods’ he must ensure
that goods are checked before the tenant takes them over and as a ‘person
responsible’ he must ensure an adequate system of maintenance
