UK Offence Report

Offences of non-compliance with duties by landlords

regulation 12(1) of The Electrical Safety Standards for Private Tenancies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

1 A landlord who fails to comply with

a duty imposed on the landlord by regulation

3 commits an offence.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
failing to do something the instrument requires
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach regulation 12(1)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. On these words an offence is committed where a person fails to comply with a duty imposed on the landlord by regulation 3.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Electrical Safety Standards for Private Tenancies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
27 November 2024
In force from
1 April 2025
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These regulations impose duties on landlords of a dwelling-house in Northern Ireland in respect of electrical safety standards. The duties do not apply to landlords of social housing. The regulations require the council to enforce the duties and include a power to arrange remedial action. Part 1 sets out preliminary matters and defines terms used in the regulations. Part 2 sets out the duties of a landlord. Regulation 3(1) requires a landlord to ensure that the electrical safety standards are met during any period when the dwelling-house is let under a tenancy, and that every fixed electrical installation is inspected and tested at regular intervals by a qualified person. Regulation 3(2) provides a definition for “at regular intervals” this means at intervals of no more than 5 years or where the most recent report requires such inspection and testing to be at intervals of less than the 5 year period. Regulation 3(3) provides that a landlord is required to obtain a report from the qualified person which gives the results of the inspection and test, supply that report to each tenant within 28 days, and to the council within 7 days of a request and retain a copy until the next inspection is due. The landlord must supply a copy of the last report to any new tenant before occupation, or any prospective tenant within 28 days of a request from the prospective tenant. Regulation 3(4) provides that, where the report requires the landlord to ensure further investigative or remedial work, the landlord must ensure a qualified person undertakes such further investigative or remedial work within 28 days or within such lesser time period as specified in the report. Regulation 3(5) provides that the landlord must obtain and supply written confirmation, from the qualified person of completion of such further investigative or remedial work to the tenant and the council. Regulation 3(6) provides that where the written confirmation indicates that further investigative work is required the landlord should repeat the steps in paragraphs (4) and (5) in respect of that work. Regulation 3(7) defines who is ‘a prospective tenant in relation to the dwelling-house’ for the purposes of paragraph (3)(e)(ii). Part 3 provides for remedial action (other than urgent remedial action) to remedy any failure by the landlord to comply with a duty. Regulation 4 places a duty on the council to serve a remedial notice on a landlord where they have reasonable grounds to believe that the landlord is in breach of a duty under regulation 3(1)(a), (1)(b), (1)(c), (4), (5) or (6). Regulation 5 requires a landlord to take the remedial action specified in the remedial notice. Regulation 6 gives the council the power to arrange remedial action. Regulation 7 provides that a landlord may appeal against the decision of the council to take that remedial action. Regulation 8 provides that the council may recover remedial costs reasonably incurred in taking action under regulations 6(1) and 11(1). Regulation 9 provides that a landlord may appeal against a demand for the recovery of remedial costs served under regulation 8(2). Regulation 10 provides that the recovery of remedial costs incurred under regulations 8(3) and 9(6) is enforced by such costs being charged on the estate of the landlord until recovered. Part 4 provides for urgent remedial action to be taken by the council. Regulation 11 gives the council the power to arrange urgent remedial action and provides for the service of notice of such action and appeals relating to such action. Part 5 deals with offences. Regulation 12 provides that a landlord who fails to comply with a duty under regulation 3 is guilty of an offence. Part 6 makes consequential amendment for the registration of charges. Regulation 13 inserts the charge created by regulation 10 to the list of matters to be registered in the Statutory Charges Register. Guidance on the implementation of The Electrical Safety Standards for Private Tenancies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024 has been published and is available on the Department for Communities website at https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/articles/electrical-safety-standards-private-tenancies-regulations-northern-ireland-2024.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person “commits an offence”
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source