Please read from bottom up.
Thank you for your recent email to ......Managing Director of .......Lettings, I have been asked in my capacity of Senior Group Partner responsible for .........Lettings to respond on his behalf.
I understand the reason you have contacted us is that you feel you have been misinformed regarding the EICR regulations and thank you for you for bringing this to our attention. I have read through your comments and also the information contained within the following two emails you sent and also discussed the matter with our compliance team.
Having reviewed the information I am of the opinion that the advice given by the ..........office was to ensure that you were fully protected and compliant with the legislation. Unfortunately the guidance given by various bodies differs and can be interpreted differently so there is a bit of grey area as to exactly what is required.
As a company we would rather ere on the side of caution which is why we recommend a new certificate if the existing one was not done to 18th edition standards, or ask that despite us recommending this should the customer choose to rely on the existing certificate that they sign an indemnity to that effect. We would rather be cautious and never have a problem with a certificate being deemed invalid, as opposed to taking a gamble no matter how small, that the certificate would not hold up in court if required.
Whilst I accept than some landlords or indeed electrical contractors may find our cautious approach un-necessary, I am sure you can understand that we have to make policy based on what we genuinely feel is the right thing and best advice for the customer.
I hope that my reply has explained our position to your satisfaction, I do however attach a copy of our company complaints procedure for your information.
Yours sincerely,
ORIGINAL E MAIL SENT
Dear Mr
I have recently used.........to advertise and let an apartment via your.......office.
The reason I am writing to you is that your compliance office is incorrect with regard to insisting on updated electrical checks when there is an existing check in place.
My electrical check was due to be checked in June 2021 so when I had the apartment up for let it still had 8 months or so on the certificate. Despite the NRLA and my electrician confirming that another electrical check was NOT required, your ..........office advised that this was wrong and that a new certificate was needed to comply with the new regulations in 2018. They also advised that an indemnity would be needed to be signed by myself if I did not have the check undertaken. They were offering their electrician to undertake this at a cost of %C2£150.
I spoke to NIC EIS and have an e mail confirming the requirements which I also forwarded to your .........office basically confirming a new certificate is not required.
In the end, I decided to have the electrical check undertaken for peace of mind however, I feel strongly that your compliance office clearly are not up-to-date with their training and will be costing lots of landlords extra money who rely on you as their letting company and to provide them with the correct information.
I will forward two e mails to you via separate e mail. (NOT ON HERE)
I look forward to your response.
