Upgrades & Utilities - Self-Contained Units

Getting Quotes

So important to get quotes quickly. You can get provisional quotes even before taking contractor to site, as you can ad details measurements and photos below on these sites.  

1. Speak to local contractors
2. Post the job on My Job Quote you get super quick response
3. Post the job on MyBuilder you get super quick response
4. Post the job on MyWorkman you get super quick response  
5. Also Plentific/ Plentific empowers landlords and property managers to deliver more efficient repairs and maintenance services. We do it through a simple, powerful management platform and a network of verified trade professionals.

Required Upgrades

These are legally required and extremely important for health and safety. Here are the upgrades to instruct on single units (family or single person or two people unrelated sharing):

Do not move residents in until completed.

Electrical Periodic Certificate (has to be renewed every 5 years)

Target price: £150

• Electrician to conduct Periodic Certificate (valid 5 years) day after completion.
• Schedule reminder to instruct renewal of certificate in 4 years and 11 months time.  
• Repairs if required. Get quote before instructing.

Gas Safe Certificate  (has to be renewed every year)

Target price £75

• Plumber to conduct Gas Safe Certificate (valid 1 year) day after completion. The contractor you use must be on the Gas Safe Register from 1 April 2009.  
• Schedule reminder to instruct renewal of certificate in 11 months time.  
• Repairs if required. Get quote before instructing.

Smoke & Heat Detectors (Fire Alarm system)

To be done by an electrician the day after completion.  

• 75 per detector (supply & fit).  
• All detectors must be mains wired and interlinked with battery backup as well. (The Fire Brigade - LACORS -  give guidance that for a 1 bedroom flat/self-contained dwelling and a 2 bed shared property a Grade D LD2 system is recommended - please do though check this with your Local Authority.  
• Heat detector in kitchen.
• Smoke detectors on landings/hallways
• Optical smoke detector to be installed in lounge.  
• Schedule reminder to instruct renewal of cert in 4 years and 11 months time in line with electrical periodic report (typically lasts 5 years). - please do remember when you instruct the electrician to carry out the electrical periodic certificate that you ask them to ALSO include your fire alarm check so it is all on one certificate! This could reduce your costs and prevent us from having to request a separate fire alarm certificate.
• Certain councils defer to the Fire Brigade’s LACORS guidance which has higher requirements for certification. Again please check with this your local council
• Please also check with the manufacturer of your fire alarm system about what their requirements are for servicing, checking and ultimately certification of the systems so that you are able to maintain full safety compliance
• Carry out your own regular visual inspections throughout the year and keep a record.  Again please check with the manufacturer as to the frequency of checks that are required

Fire blankets

• Install fire blanket in kitchen. Here is a link to one on Amazon.

Locks

Target price: £40-£50 per lock (supply & fit)

Use suited keys (not legal requirement but best practice for when you end up with multiple properties

Use thumb turn locks (see pic) on bedrooms, front door and back door. Not a legal requirement but best practice for easy exit in an emergency. These allow the residents the safest exit from their bedroom as no key is required. Locks can usually be fitted by the same contractor who is fitting the fire doors to avoid additional call-out cost of locksmith.

Carbon Monoxide Detection

• Battery packed Carbon Monoxide Detector.  
• These must be in all rooms where gas appliances are (inc. boilers, cookers, gas fires etc.).
• If electric only - not required  
• £50 per detector (supply & fit)
• Detectors should not be mounted on the ceiling (by the time the poisonous fumes reach the detector, they have already reached dangerous levels to breath in).

Legionella assessment

Please see this link for guidance how to carry out an assessment and future checks. There is a legal duty for landlords to assess and control the risk of exposure to legionella bacteria, but Health and Safety law does not require landlords to produce or obtain, nor does HSE recognise, a 'Legionnaires testing certificate'.

Fire Safety Risk Assessment

The fire risk assessment should be completed by a competent person using Fire Risk Assessment template and submit to certificates@greenpastures.co.uk as detailed on page 4.  

You will be required to have one of these on file for each property you use for housing people. This is a requirement of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 - please find at this link (this will give you more information about the regulatory upgrades that are needed) for more detail.  

PAT testing

If you as the partner own the electrical item in the house it must be PAT tested. If it is owned by the resident and will remove when they leave then PAT testing not required, it is decision of the resident. The Portable Appliance Testing rules are very straightforward as detailed in the 1989 Electricity at Work Regulations. The regulations state that “All [electrical] systems shall at all times be of such construction as to prevent, so far as reasonably practical, such danger. A visual test include checking and testing for frayed wires, the casing around the appliance appearing to be damaged or coming undone, as well as plugs that appear to be cracked or damaged. This is really a specialised process and we would therefore recommend that you use a qualified PAT Testing specialist who will be able to perform tests and checks on a variety of appliances using PAT testers that will be able to show if the appliance has passed or failed testing including earth continuity, lead polarity, and insulation resistance, among others for more advanced testers. Once each appliance completes the test, they will be labelled with a safety sticker with a barcode for ease of tracking in the future.

EPC

EPC certificates are valid on a property for 10 years. Make sure your property has a valid  energy performance certificate. You can visit the Landmark website to find a registered domestic assessor in your area. You can search for  EPC on EPC Register. The rating needs to be at least a C.

Summary of Certificates Required

To see required certificates table click here. Check third column to see if it's for HMO or Single Unit.  

Payment & Certificates

Partner is to pay for upgrades (recoverable through claim to HB). If this is not at all possible GP can pay for upgrades and the partner reimburses GP once money for these items comes in through the HB claim. If the latter please use this link and please remember all contractors are paid at the end of the month following the receipt of invoice if GP is paying the bill.  Remember to try to get the best price. Contractors will sometimes do the job for free because you are housing the homeless.  

When Property Completes

• Carry out risk assessment
• Contractors doing upgrades enter the building to complete work.  
• Ensure the relevant certificate for the works is obtained upon completion of works; copies of certificates should be posted to GP (see below), keep originals on file.
• Record renewal dates for certificates.
• Future quotes for renewal of certificates should be sent to GP in timely fashion (1 month before expiry of certificate). GP will approve the quote.
• Carry out regular safety & condition checks (see Annual Property Inspection form)

N.B. Please make sure your electrician and plumber are ready to do the satisfactory Electrical Periodic Certificate & Gas Safe Certificate respectively the day after the property completes.

Submitting Certificates

Please make clear copies of the certificates and do one of the following:

• Email a scan of the certificate to certificates@greenpastures.co.uk
• Or post to GP Adminstration, 28 Union Street, Southport, Merseyside, PR9 0QE

Please also make sure you keep a copy of each of these certificates for your files.  

Certificates Administrator Process

• 1 mth before each certificate expires certificates@greenpastures.co.uk will contact you, although you remain responsible and should not need a reminder.
• VS emails partner a reminder including a screenshot of the validity of each certificate.
• GP Partnership Manager will be notified by VS once a partner’s certificate has expired and the renewal has not been sent to BP by the partner.  
• The GP Partnership Manager will remind the partner immediately by email.  
• Once a certificate has expired VS will continue to email the partner regularly until the certificate has been received by her at the Southport Office.    

Upgrades Checklist

Green Upgrades

Utilities

• Take meter reading of gas & electric the day of completion.
• Notify suppliers of change of tenancy and give meter reading.
• Notify the local water supplier of change of tenancy.
• Partners are financially responsible for erecting a TV aerial or repairing this in the future.

Best supplier price go to USwitch or Go Compare  Two Options There are essentially two options:  

• Partners can hold the gas and electric bills in their own names and cover the cost through a weekly service charge levied to the residents; or
• Partners can have card/ key meters installed.  

NB - Installing meters might be more costly to the residents due to higher rates (please investigate).   An account is far cheaper for the residents but can lead to very high bills as it allows residents to leave their electricity or heating on permanently. A key meter simply runs out, meaning residents are unable to accrue bills they cannot pay. Furthermore, the administration of a service charge can be a struggle with more vulnerable residents. For these reasons most of our partners choose to go with key meters for their residents’ gas and electricity billing.   Depending on cost, if there is only one gas appliance (e.g. the cooker), you may wish to consider fitting an electric cooker. This will remove the need for an annual gas certificate. If any gas fires need replacing, you need to have them removed and alternative heating provided (i.e. electric wall mounted heater). Again, this avoids the requirement for the annual gas certificates.

When helping a new resident to settle in it is sometimes necessary to set up utilities for them. These utilities include Water, Electricity and if necessary Gas.

Water

To set up Water a simple call to United Utilities, request to have the account name switched over to the new resident. If a water meter is in place then get a start reading to give them so that the resident does not pay for water they have not used. If a water meter is not in place and the new resident is a single occupant then you must request to have a meter fitted as to save the resident paying excessive bills. If a water meter cannot be fitted then you can request ‘single occupier discount’ and this will mean the resident will get a reasonable discount on what would normally be charged.

Gas

To set up a Gas account you first need to find out who supplies the Gas to the property, to do this just search for the number for National Grid and they will let you know who is the current supplier. Once you know this search for the number for the company and simply set the account up with the new residents details.

Normal Meter: They will simply send you bills for the property.  

Card Meter: 99% of the time the meter will have debt on that the landlord and new resident are not liable to pay.  

• Whilst on the phone to the Gas company explain that a new resident is moving in and there is debt on the meter and they will give you means to clear this debt. Sometimes they will send a new card with the amount on it so as to ‘reset’ the meter or sometimes they will give you a code to put on a card and then once taken to the meter it will be reset.  
• If the ex-resident has left the card behind then they will usually ask that it is taken to the same shop three times and topped up with a minor amount and after the third time it will be clear of debt and can be topped up with a larger amount. I
• If the card is not present then the company will usually offer to send a new card through the post or if it is in need of immediately then they will direct you to a local shop who can either give you a card for free or certain companies have a small charge for one.  

Electricity

To set up an electricity account for a new resident is similar to setting up Gas. First thing to do is call the MPAN/MPAS service for the part of the country you are in, this can be found by simply doing a search on the internet. Once you have the relevant number call them up and they will tell you the current supplier. Once you know this information, Google the company to get their contact information.

Normal Meter: Simply put the account in the resident’s name and you will be sent bills.  

Key Meter: This process is similar to setting up Gas.  

• Call the current supplier and change over the details and if there is debt on the meter ask them for a reset code to clear the meter.  
• They will give you an 8 digit code that can be added to a key anytime after an hour later. If you have the old key then simply take the key to a shop that has PayPoint and ask them to add the code to the key. It is important to note, do NOT add credit to the key at this point!  
• Once the code is on the key take it to the meter and insert and leave for approximately one minute or until it beeps and shows the balance as £000.00.  
• Then take it back to any PayPoint and add credit as necessary.  
• If you do not have possession of the old key then you have the option of asking the company to tell you where a key can be obtained. They can either send you one through the post or as in most cases if it is needed rather urgently then they can tell you of a local shop that stocks their keys. Most companies give the keys for free however some have a charge for this option. The important thing to remember is that all blank electric keys are essentially the same so if the company charges for a key and the resident cannot afford the amount then you can ask for another companies key who does not charge and just put the code on that key instead and it will still work just the same.

Always remember that when adding a code to a key whether it be a used key or a new key never add credit at that time, you must get the code on it, take it to the meter and insert to reset and then once that is done the key can be used to top up the meter.