Yet again the Great Gravy Train Bird prepares to dump upon the trade .

[Evans Electric]

Yes the Greater  Speckled Gravy Train Bird  is being prepared to tour the country ,  seeking out  the Self Employed , the weak  downtrodden masses of ordinary Sparks  who struggle to make a living  at the manual end of the trade  while the fat cats of bureaucracy  set themselves up with another Del Boy type , nice little earner .  

I agreed with the original concept ,  they do it in Scotland I believe ,   but  yet again the weak kneed  contracting industry will stand by  as they prepare the  Gravy Train  for another outing ....renamed The  Flying  Rip Off Merchant , it will be steaming  down the track  to a place near you very soon .  

What is this of what I speak  you may ask !!!   

The advent of mandatory 5 yearly  electrical  condition reports on rented properties in England  .      Seems like a good idea to me , it will protect the tenant AND  bring some work our way .  

Thats what I thought , fool that I am ..............I read further and quote  :-    " This will require  the creation of a Private  Rented Sector Electrical Testing Competent Persons Scheme  established....SEPARATE.... from the existing Building Regulations Competent Persons Schemes " 

What does it mean to the average contractor ?    Well you can pay for a course  on doing EICR   which you already do anyway ...then you can buy your yearly ticket for a 1st class seat  on The Flying Rip Off Merchant .  

I hope & pray the the trade will walk away from yet another  Jobs for the Boys  Competent Persons Scheme .  

Edit :     I hope the Flying Rip off Merchant   suffers the same fate as The Wreck of the Old '97  .  

 

[ProDave]

To do a rental EICR here you need to now be a member of one of the schemes (just an ordinary one, not a special rental property one) Since I am not, and don't want to be, I no longer do rental EICR's.

5 years until I can jack it all in. The clock is counting down......

 

[Andy™]

To do a rental EICR here you need to now be a member of one of the schemes (just an ordinary one, not a special rental property one)

says who? not heard of that one before

 

[ProDave]

says who? not heard of that one before

Scottish Government sets the rules for rental properties and says the contractor doing an EICR has to be a member of one of the scams, and then lists most (but not all) of them.

This is only for rental. for any other reason anyone can do an EICR.

 

[Andy™]

so more differences in the rules etc between england & wales. at least you dont have part p

 

[binky]

Ahhh, another quango in the making.......

It's about time rental properties had mandatory testing - you wouldn't rent a car without an MoT, but hi-jacking this with another scam is right out of order. I wonder of the current scams are trying to support us in this, afterall they have been telling us we are competent to test with all the yearly inspections????  :slap

 

[Evans Electric]

Would anyone care to join me in writing to their  Competent Persons Scheme  , complaining at the creation of yet another  scheme  , diversifying the  workforce ,   and ignoring the fact that  existing electrical contractors  are quite capable  of carrying out an EICR on a rented property  as it would be exactly the same as  as an EICR  on a NON rented property . 

I am prepared to write to  my MP  (  not much hope there)   The NICEIC  and the committee  that sits  on all the Part Pee lettuced    discussions   or the Dept . of the Deputy Prime Minister . 

What could have been a welcome increase in revenue for the contracting fraternity  will be milked dry by yet another quango .   What a firkin disgrace !   And again we will all stand for it  ....mark my words if this goes through ...what will follow is that ALL   EICRs  are carried out by  Quango members. 

I'd like to hear Sidewinder's view and opinion . 

 

[Sharpend]

There has to be a legal defence against this for any subsequent changes to be pulled. We are told that BS7671 is only guidance by law yet woe betide anyone who doesn’t adhere to it, so given that there is a section within the 7671 that refers to testing and the electrician should be competent to test and there are of course the additional testing and inspecting courses of which many registered members will have completed which entitles them to competently test an install are now being held to ransom to actually test? We need a lawyer! 

 

[kerching]

So over the past month I have been doing an EICR on a massive Data centre ( Dark Site....those in the know know what this is....it is some serious )

Assuming that if this goes ahead i am allowed to do that but NOT my three rentals?

won't happen!

 

[Blue Duck]

So over the past month I have been doing an EICR on a massive Data centre ( Dark Site....those in the know know what this is....it is some serious )

Assuming that if this goes ahead i am allowed to do that but NOT my three rentals?

won't happen!

Dark site eh? Not something the Russians would be interested in surely???

Did it Pass? 

@Evans Electric where did you find this guff?

 

[Evans Electric]

where did you find this guff?

This months ECN magazine  , perhaps I should get it out of the recycle  and scan  the article .   I'm well Part Peed off now with  being ripped off by  the IEE  inventing new regs every week  and now this guff .   

 

[Murdoch]

Seeing as the DCLG are responsible for building regs and  alike won't they be involved in this?

They've been keeping a very low profile since the Grenfell Tower tragedy!

 

[Andy™]

of course they have, they think part p covers the fridge

 

[Murdoch]

This months ECN magazine  , perhaps I should get it out of the recycle  and scan  the article .   I'm well Part Peed off now with  being ripped off by  the IEE  inventing new regs every week  and now this guff .   

Our opportunity to kick back again has passed as the 18th Edition is soon to be released ................ with little amendments being ill thought out, and us having to fork out for training and a new stack of books - which are still littered with the confusing and often conflicting regs.

Enough is enough.

Wonder what the DCLG and the schemes would do if a serious number of members stopped paying ............................

 

[Sharpend]

The day that happens I’ll think the rapture has come early, many coming together for the one cause! 

 

[Evans Electric]

This months ECN magazine  , perhaps I should get it out of the recycle  and scan  the article .   I'm well Part Peed off now with  being ripped off by  the IEE  inventing new regs every week  and now this guff .   

Sorry its not in ECN .... its  the online version of  Professional Electrician .

I downloaded the page  but its gone funny ,  theres background stuff making the text unreadable , I'll try it anyway . View attachment New Tougher Electrical Safety Standards to Protect Private Tenants - Professional Electrician.html

Naw  its all gone mad 

 

[Evans Electric]

As Forum IT Consultant  I am ...as we speak.... circumnavigating  the problem by applying my extensive and considerable  and much envied skills ....Hmmm   might be a bit small .  

 

[Andy™]

the building regs & scams we already have are not fit for purpose and they have no idea what to do about it. do they really think brining in more 'competent persons scams' is going to work?

 

[Murdoch]

the building regs & scams we already have are not fit for purpose and they have no idea what to do about it. do they really think brining in more 'competent persons scams' is going to work?

Its obvious, the DCLG, not wanting to be responsible for making any decisions, will call in "experts" (aka the scams) and they will advise the best course of action if for them to add EICR's to their schemes and the IET make it mandatory for the only people to do them be registered with a scheme - they of course won't have powers of policing such a system ................................. then no one party is seen to make the final decision and then when it goes wrong nobody can be held to blame. 

I doubt very much that they will engage with anyone at "the coal face" who this will impact...

I don't do many EICR's - I find them very tedious , I won't join a scheme to "tick a box", and I certainly won't join to the race to the bottom and do them for peanuts....

Around here GS chaps charge £60 to do the mandatory gas checks which take about 1 hour - which nobody complains about, yet ask £135 minimum for an EICR which takes 4 + hours and "you are too expensive"... 

 

[Sharpend]

the building regs & scams we already have are not fit for purpose and they have no idea what to do about it. do they really think brining in more 'competent persons scams' is going to work?

Careful, one day we might get a CPS, sorry that's to say a Competent Politicians Scheme.