What does PAT testing mean for Landlords?

Landlords have a responsibility to ensure that any electrical appliances that they provide are safe for use. The best way to evidence that the landlord has taken steps to ensure this is by PAT testing. 

Portable Appliance Tests or PATs are an electrical check carried out on ‘movable’ items such as kettles, microwaves, vacuums, table lamps, toasters and coffee machines, as well as heavier stationary appliances such as cookers, washing machines and fridges. 

There is no law that says PAT checks must be carried out by landlords, something the government recently clarified. However the law does state is that all electrical equipment within a rental property must be safe to use and that it’s the landlord’s responsibility to ensure this before tenants move in and, equally, during the tenancy too.

A Pat test will check the safety of the electrical appliances, including visual checks on the plug and flex cable. A visual examination is the most important factor, but if an item were to short and then catch fire then being able to prove that it had been PAT checked recently (every two years for smaller items and four years for larger ones) would help matters.

PAT tests can flag up potential issues that the landlord may not be aware of, such as a previous tenant fitting an incorrectly rated fuse, which is a potential fire risk. Many tenants do not realise that a standard UK plug that states 13A on the back, does not actually mean that a 13A fuse should be fitted, and if the flex cable for this particular appliance is not able to take a 13A current, the flex cable would melt/catch fire before the fuse has blown, and even though the previous tenant had fitted the fuse, actually the landlord has unwittingly supplied the electrical appliance to the new tenant in this condition, and therefore potentially liable for any issues.