Housing associations, managing agents and inspection companies working in Cardiff run PAT programmes under Wales's regulatory framework. Here's what applies, how often it's due, and how local providers manage it with Kaarr.
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require electrical equipment to be maintained to prevent danger; the IET Code of Practice sets the risk-based approach to inspection and testing frequency. In Scotland's private rented sector, appliances supplied with the tenancy fall under the Repairing Standard's electrical safety duties.
Cardiff Council is the local housing authority. Every private landlord and letting agent in Wales must be registered and licensed through Rent Smart Wales, which Cardiff Council hosts on behalf of Welsh local authorities, and homes must be fit for human habitation under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016.
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service is the fire and rescue authority.
Rows of Victorian terraces in areas such as Cathays and Splott sit alongside post-war council estates, and social landlords here work to the Welsh Housing Quality Standard 2023, which sets decarbonisation and quality targets beyond the older standard.
Wales is unusually specific about appliance testing in social housing. Element 2h of the Welsh Housing Quality Standard 2023 requires electrical equipment that a landlord supplies and owns, such as fridges and cookers, to be safe and to be tested annually by a competent person, defined as a qualified electrician. A record must be kept, in line with the fifth edition of the IET Code of Practice. Appliances under one year old that carry a CE mark are exempt. This is a fixed yearly interval, unlike the risk-based frequency the IET Code allows in other settings. The Fitness for Human Habitation Regulations 2022 set a five year interval for the fixed installation only, and the Rent Smart Wales Code requires appliances provided with a let to be in safe condition without naming a test interval. The standard is due to be reissued, so check the current text.
The workflow, report template and scheduling for PAT are the same in every city. See how Kaarr runs PAT, then book a demo with your Cardiff stock in mind.
Cardiff is in Wales, so the governing framework is: Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 · IET Code of Practice. The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require electrical equipment to be maintained to prevent danger; the IET Code of Practice sets the risk-based approach to inspection and testing frequency. In Scotland's private rented sector, appliances supplied with the tenancy fall under the Repairing Standard's electrical safety duties.
There's no fixed statutory interval for PAT: the law requires electrical equipment to be maintained safely, with risk-based inspection frequency. For communal appliances in shared and supported housing — kettles, toasters, microwaves, white goods — annual combined inspection and testing is the standard Kaarr schedules.
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