Electrician in Gravesend DA12, Chalk and Shorne

Council homes and the new rules

More than one household in seven in DA12 rents from the council: 2,955 homes at the 2021 Census, 15.5% of the district, against 8.3% across England and 12.7% across Gravesham. Until November 2025 the five-yearly electrical inspection applied to private landlords only. The regulations now cover social housing in England as well: they apply to social tenancies that began after 1 December 2025, and for tenancies that began before then the deadline for the first inspection is 1 November 2026, with any electrical equipment the landlord supplies, a cooker for instance, to be checked as well. For a council tenant that means the council arranges the test, gives the tenant a copy of the report within 28 days, and puts right anything the report finds within 28 days. On an estate with a long council history, though, not every front door is a council tenancy. A flat bought from the council on a long lease falls outside the regulations altogether, so under most leases the wiring inside it is the leaseholder’s to look after. A house bought outright and lived in carries no inspection duty at all. And a former council house now let privately has been under the private landlord rules since 2020 for new tenancies and 2021 for existing ones, on the same five-year cycle as any other let. Three homes in one row can have three different answers to the question of who checks the wiring, and when.

Census 2021 is five years old. 'Rents from council or local authority' only; housing association tenants are counted separately. Summed over the output areas where most postcodes are in the district; small-area counts carry ONS's disclosure-control adjustments.

Source: GOV.UK, Electrical safety standards in the private and social rented sectors