As part of a campaign to reduce the risk of fire in private rented property, SELECT has launched a Scotland-wide radio campaign to alert both landlords and tenants to obligations to carry out electrical inspections.
Since December last year, landlords have been required to conduct five yearly electrical checks of the fixed wiring and any electrical appliances in privately rented homes. As well as landlords being compliant, tenants should ask for a copy of the electrical safety check when it’s done.
SELECT has chosen radio as the medium for the campaign to get the message across to tenants, as well as landlords, and will run a series of adverts across the Scottish independent radio network – including Radios Clyde, Forth, MFR, Northsound 1, Borders, Tay, and Westsound – advising of the changes and directing landlords to its website, www.needanelectrician.scot.
The campaign is backed by Scottish Minister for Local Government and Housing Kevin Stewart MSP, who recently met SELECT managing director Newell McGuiness and Alan Wilson, SELECT’s head of communications and member services.
Mr Stewart said, ‘Government statistics have shown that 69 per cent of all accidental fires in Scottish homes are caused by electricity. It is most important to continue to deliver the safety message to landlords.
‘SELECT is at the forefront of safety initiatives in the electrical sector in Scotland and this new campaign is a very helpful tool in ensuring that rented homes meet the Repairing Standard during tenancies.’
