EICR

lookstraightahead

We are reaching the end of our tenancy. We have bought a house and had a crossover period. 

Yesterday we had the EICR people back to complete an issue from their investigation prior to April, and they turned the electricity off for four hours. There is still work to do.

we are moving out Tuesday and the landlord is moving back in. It appears that they want to do all this work with us still in situ to avoid them having to put themselves out. The managing agent has been useless since we handed in our notice, as they're not bothered anymore.

I do not want the power switched off again before we move out, for obvious reasons of cleaning etc. Do we have a legal obligation to allow this at such short notice? 

Windofchange

You have the right to peaceful occupancy whilst you are still a tenant. You can decline to allow access to the property, and the landlord will then need to get a section 21 to get in.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/repairs_and_inspections_access_to_your_rented_home

That isn't something that is going to happen between now and Tuesday, so basically state that you will not be allowing access and you will vacate next week. This may prompt silliness of course with any tenancy deposit that you might have, so I would weigh up the positives and negatives of being difficult as having the electricity off for a few hours when presumably the house is all packed up in boxes and you are preparing to move anyway doesn't really seem like a huge deal to me. 

MaryNB

Windofchange said:

You have the right to peaceful occupancy whilst you are still a tenant. You can decline to allow access to the property, and the landlord will then need to get a section 21 to get in.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/repairs_and_inspections_access_to_your_rented_home

That isn't something that is going to happen between now and Tuesday, so basically state that you will not be allowing access and you will vacate next week. This may prompt silliness of course with any tenancy deposit that you might have, so I would weigh up the positives and negatives of being difficult as having the electricity off for a few hours when presumably the house is all packed up in boxes and you are preparing to move anyway doesn't really seem like a huge deal to me. 

I disagree. As someone who had electricians doing work recently, it can be quite disruptive. Having tradespeople in the house will make it harder to clean the property and therefore harder to return it to the condition they got it in. Not only because they won't have power, as the OP mentioned, but also because they have to try clean around people working. And depending on the type of work they're doing, electricians can leave an awful lot of dust behind (despite the dust sheets my house was covered in dust when the electricians finished). The landlord may try to old the OP liable if the electricians don't clean up after themselves.

If the landlord is vindictive then the OP should go through the deposit protection scheme to get their deposit back.  The only potential thing the landlord could do is refuse to give a reference but doesn't matter since the OP has bought a property.

Marvel1

They can wait until your tenancy ends.

Take a video and loads of photos with timestamps on the condition of the property on your last day.

Section62

lookstraightahead said:

Yesterday we had the EICR people back to complete an issue from their investigation prior to April, and they turned the electricity off for four hours. There is still work to do.

I do not want the power switched off again before we move out, for obvious reasons of cleaning etc. Do we have a legal obligation to allow this at such short notice? 

What is the nature of the issue(s) they are working on?  Four hours, plus still having work to do, could suggest it is more than just a simple non-compliance with current regs.

If the fault has the potential to cause electric shock and/or fire then being unhelpful in terms of providing access for the work could have life-changing consequences.

It might be the landlord wants the work done now to minimise inconvenience to themselves, or it might be that they don't want their property - and your contents - incinerated as a result of a fire. Or even to face manslaughter charges if you or a family member manages to electrocute yourselves during the remainder of the tenancy.

lookstraightahead

They've not said anything about it being dangerous. Something that has probably been there since the renovations from house to flats in the 1990s. They were in no rush to get it fixed prior to us handing in our notice. 

I will probably go with what they want and if they're not happy with how we leave it then I will deal with that then.

it is really inconvenient - no hot water while it's off either which stops us cleaning down kitchen cupboards etc. 

Maybe they can fit in around us ha ha! 

MaryNB

Section62 said:

lookstraightahead said:

Yesterday we had the EICR people back to complete an issue from their investigation prior to April, and they turned the electricity off for four hours. There is still work to do.

I do not want the power switched off again before we move out, for obvious reasons of cleaning etc. Do we have a legal obligation to allow this at such short notice? 

What is the nature of the issue(s) they are working on?  Four hours, plus still having work to do, could suggest it is more than just a simple non-compliance with current regs.

If the fault has the potential to cause electric shock and/or fire then being unhelpful in terms of providing access for the work could have life-changing consequences.

It might be the landlord wants the work done now to minimise inconvenience to themselves, or it might be that they don't want their property - and your contents - incinerated as a result of a fire. Or even to face manslaughter charges if you or a family member manages to electrocute yourselves during the remainder of the tenancy.

The landlord & electrician were happy enough to leave it another 3 days to get the last of work done, not sure what difference another 2 days will make. Also the EICR was done before April so the issue would have been known about since then. 

Section62

MaryNB said:

The landlord & electrician were happy enough to leave it another 3 days to get the last of work done, not sure what difference another 2 days will make. Also the EICR was done before April so the issue would have been known about since then. 

None of us have the knowledge of exactly what the problem is, other than the electrician, and possibly the landlord.

The extra time/visits needed to complete the work could be due to waiting for ordered-in parts to arrive.

A further fault could have been uncovered which was not spotted in April.

We don't know.

And in the absence of that information it is unwise - on a public forum - to suggest being in any way obstructive to the landlord/electrician completing the work.

The next person who reads this thread - at some point in the future - might have an issue which needs dealing with urgently, and advice to be obstructive/unhelpful could turn out to have fatal results.

Marvel1

Section62 said:

MaryNB said:

The landlord & electrician were happy enough to leave it another 3 days to get the last of work done, not sure what difference another 2 days will make. Also the EICR was done before April so the issue would have been known about since then. 

None of us have the knowledge of exactly what the problem is, other than the electrician, and possibly the landlord.

The extra time/visits needed to complete the work could be due to waiting for ordered-in parts to arrive.

A further fault could have been uncovered which was not spotted in April.

We don't know.

And in the absence of that information it is unwise - on a public forum - to suggest being in any way obstructive to the landlord/electrician completing the work.

The next person who reads this thread - at some point in the future - might have an issue which needs dealing with urgently, and advice to be obstructive/unhelpful could turn out to have fatal results.

If it it was that bad, they could have put OP in a hotel or something while waiting for the parts, to avoid anything fatal.

Section62

Marvel1 said:

If it it was that bad, they could have put OP in a hotel or something while waiting for the parts, to avoid anything fatal.

Of course they could - at the landlord's expense.  Perhaps that's why the OP says "They've not said anything about it being dangerous" - because the landlord doesn't want to go down that route?

The point being, when giving advice on something safety related, don't jump to conclusions or make assumptions.

Find out what the problem is, assess the risks, then give advice/make a decision.

Personally, if I was in the OP's position I would be asking for more details of the fault today, then making a decision whether to allow the electrician to come back in before Tuesday.