The Renting Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2022

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Renting Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) (Wales) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/6 (W. 4)) (“the 2022 Regulations”) which prescribe the matters and circumstances to which regard must be had when determining whether a dwelling is fit for human habitation.

Regulation 2(2)(a) of these Regulations amends regulation 6(3) of the 2022 Regulations so that the landlord has 14 days, starting with the occupation date, to give the contract-holder a copy of the most recent electrical condition report and written confirmation of any investigatory or remedial work carried out on or in relation to an electrical service installation in the dwelling after the electrical safety inspection to which the electrical condition report relates.

Regulation 2(2)(b) of these Regulations amends regulation 6(4) of the 2022 Regulations so that, where an electrical safety inspection is carried out after the occupation date, the landlord has 14 days, starting with the day on which that electrical safety inspection was completed, to give the contract-holder a copy of the electrical condition report relating to that inspection.

Regulation 2(2)(c) of these Regulations amends regulation 6(5) of the 2022 Regulations so that, where investigatory or remedial work is carried out on or in relation to an electrical service installation in the dwelling after the occupation date, the landlord must give the contract-holder written confirmation of that work within 14 days starting with the day on which the landlord received the confirmation.

Regulation 6(8) of the 2022 Regulations includes a definition of “electrical safety standards” which makes reference to the standards for electrical service installations set out in the eighteenth edition of the Wiring Regulations, published by the Institution of Engineering and Technology and the British Standards Institution as BS 7671:2018+A1:2020. Regulation 2(2)(d) of these Regulations update that reference to the most recent version published in 2022 by the British Standards Institution.

Regulation 7 of the 2022 Regulations deals with the application of those Regulations in relation to converted contracts and paragraph (5) of that regulation substitutes regulation 6(4) of the 2022 Regulations in relation to those contracts. Regulation 2(3) of these Regulations amends that substituted regulation 6(4) so that where an electrical safety inspection is carried out after the contract-holder has been given a report under regulation 6(3)(a) (as modified by regulation 7(4) of the 2022 Regulations), the landlord has 14 days, starting with the day on which that electrical safety inspection was completed, to give the contract-holder a copy of the electrical condition report relating to that inspection.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, it was not considered necessary to carry out a regulatory impact assessment as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations.