My Lords, before I remark on Amendments 122, 123 and 124, I express my surprise that we still have arrangements in our House whereby those who wish to contribute virtually do not appear to have the same flexibility as the rest of us to choose when they speak. I feel very sad for my noble friend Lady Brinton, whose support for these amendments I am enormously grateful for. She has to speak before those amendments have even been moved. I hope that the authorities will have a look at this.
I will make two apologies to the Committee. First, I have no Latin motto to offer the Minister on this occasion, unlike the previous one. Secondly, I fear that I cannot be quite as brief in speaking to these three amendments as I was when I spoke to the earlier one. As I said on the amendments that I previously raised, however, the number of fires in high-rise blocks with 10 or more flats has risen considerably year on year—this has been repeated subsequently by a number of noble Lords—with a rise of nearly 20% in the last two years. We also heard that, as I said, 53% of those fires are related to electrical faults.
In the debate on the previous amendment, I referred to electrical faults caused by faulty electrical appliances purchased online. These three amendments in my name raise the issue of faulty electrical installations. We can find ways of dealing with electrical appliances—I suggested a way of doing this in the previous amendment —but in building new blocks, electrical installations are installed and checks carried out on them, quite properly, to ensure that they meet all the necessary safety requirements.
I was pleased that, when I had the opportunity as a Minister for a brief period in the department, I was able to introduce some changes to those regulations to improve still further the safety of installations in new buildings. As we all know, however, over time those installations can be degraded; indeed, some can be damaged by work carried out by overenthusiastic DIYers and for a whole series of other purposes. It makes a great deal of sense to ensure that, from time to time, there are periodic checks of the electrical installations in flats in high-rise blocks—indeed, I would argue, in all properties.
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I am very lucky that, when I am in London, I live in a flat that I rent from a private owner, who is required under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 to have the electrical installations in my flat checked every five years by a qualified person. That landlord is also required to provide me, the occupant, with a copy of that report. It means I am fortunate: I am a private tenant and my landlord has to undertake these periodic safety checks, so my neighbours and I can have confidence that the electrical installations in my home are safe and will continue to be so over time.
However, a fire in a tower block does not check on the ownership or residency status of those it threatens, so it would be reasonable to assume that similar requirements through regulations apply to all flats, regardless of the basis of occupation. Some blocks may be entirely occupied by private tenants, some by leaseholders and some by social housing tenants. Quite
often, blocks have mixed tenure. To ensure the safety of all from faulty electrical installations, all properties in such blocks, regardless of the status of the occupants, should obviously have periodic checks of the installations by an appropriately qualified person, leading to an electrical condition report and, if need be, a requirement for action to resolve any issues identified. However obvious that may seem, many noble Lords will, I suspect, be surprised to learn that, except for private tenants such as me, there is no regulatory requirement for this to happen. Some freeholders may require leaseholders to have such checks and report the results as part of the lease; some do but, sadly, many do not. There is certainly no legal requirement that it happens.
Perhaps more surprisingly, while tenants in privately rented property get this protection, tenants in socially rented properties do not. Of course, some social land- lords —Southern Housing is a good example—carry out periodic checks of electrical installations in their properties, but it is a small minority, as the evidence shows. Only 10% of social housing providers have in-date electrical installation condition reports for all properties; 90% do not.
Of course, social landlords have some obligations in this area and, no doubt, the Minister will refer to them. There is a requirement under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 to keep electrical installations in repair and, under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, they have to keep them free of electrical hazard. Neither, however, requires social landlords to hold a valid, in-date electrical installation condition report. As I have just said, the vast majority do not do so voluntarily. Therefore, the requirement—and the safety provided by it—which applies to the privately rented sector, does not apply to social housing properties.
At the same time, in the Government’s own social housing charter, they have said unequivocally:
“Safety measures in the social sector should be in line with the legal protections afforded to private sector tenants. Responses to the social housing Green Paper showed overwhelming support for consistency in safety measures across social and private rented housing.”
Indeed, the Minister said at Second Reading:
“The Bill is unapologetically ambitious, creating a world-class building safety regulatory regime that holds all”—
I emphasise “all”—
“to the same high standard.”—[Official Report, 2/2/22; col. 916.]
Yet existing legislation is, as I described, deficient in this respect, and it does not achieve the Minister’s stated aim. My amendments rectify this: all three require that leasehold properties and social housing properties in HRRBs should have valid electrical installation condition reports providing those residents with the same protection as those required for privately rented tenants.
It is very simple. Privately rented sector tenants get protection; all the rest currently do not. The Minister says that everybody should have the same level of protection; these amendments seek to achieve that, and I look forward to hearing the Minister accept them.
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