Concern as more than a third of Sheffield Council homes are breaking new electrical safety law

All homes were required to have electrical safety checks every 10 years until the law changed in recent years, requiring certificates to be no more than five years old.

Councillor Paul Turpin raised concern at the council falling far short of the mark at a housing committee meeting today saying if the homes do not become compliant the penalties could “bankrupt” the authority.

He said: “That is a serious non compliance with the law. There are about 13,000 homes without a valid electrical safety certificate.

“That is potentially incredibly dangerous and the council could face fines of up to £30,000 for each instance. If they all came in, the council would be bankrupt overnight.”

Janet Sharpe, director of housing, said the situation was under control.

She said: “You’re absolutely right, the legislation changed recently. We were fully compliant with a 10 year programme for certificates. The legislation changed and brought that to five years.

“Through our capital programme we have got contractors on site that are doing all the electrical upgrades. We have also got a plan that is going to get us to that five year compliance. We have shared that plan with the regulator and like many other local authorities and landlords in the city, everybody is in that transition and moving forward.

“We are aiming to be compliant at the earliest opportunity.

“[The regulator is] satisfied and happy with us as long as we follow that plan.”