Can anyone shed details on electrical standards as they currently are?

Background - house I'm going to let is pretty old but the wiring seems to be to modern standards: red and black and yellow/green sheathing on earth. There's also a modern RCD style consumer unit.

The concern that I have is that the sockets are a hotch-potch of oldish style sockets and are built into the skirting. I'd like to update them at least but, if I do so, am I also obliged to move them up the wall too? That's likely to mean new cable runs.

I have an electrician booked to come and survey what's there but he's away on holiday right now and I'd like to know whether I need to plan/budget for upgrades.

Thanks!

modern wire colours are brown / blue with green n yellow earth.

there is plug sockets that can be controlled from your iPhone that are readily available same goes for light switches, these are around £30 a shot from maplin.

useful for turning on lights, or turning off sockets if you left something on... the light switches can also be programmed to run an on / off sequence for times when you may be on holiday.

there is a book called 17th wire regulations, this would tell you all you should need to know.

There are no rules or regulations stating that you have to provide a certificate or have an electrician inspect the electrics in a rented property.

However, it is your responsibility to ensure that the electrical installation is safe and will not endanger those in your property.

I insist that all my Landlords have a safety check carried out at least every 5 years.

I think any sockets without switches will need to be updated but I'm not sure about moving them above the skirting.

If the house and the electrics are old there are likely to be a lot of things mentioned in the report. Some you may have to do immediately and some will be recommendations or 'not to current standards' which basically means they won't kill anyone but we do it a different way now.

Not in mains wiring - at least not in the last few years. My current house is less than 10 years old and the mains wiring in red and black

Some Googling suggests that I can update the sockets myself and there's no requirement to move them provided they can be properly accessed. The rule seems to be that you should install something "no worse" than the existing installation. As a competent DIYer (I was actually qualified in electrical safety (to IEE 16th Ed) and C&G trained in electrical installation many moons ago), I can update the sockets myself.

I will get the installation checked for my own peace of mind as there was some pretty horrible additions that had been made that I've already ripped out b

You shouldn't need to worry about the socket heights, you are able to carry out like for like replacement/ repair without need of an inspection or updating to current regs provided the circuit is not altered or modified I.e just keep it like for like

The height thing in my experience is a bit of a red herring and is more a requirement in new builds I have never had any issue's with certificates when rewiring my last house keeping sockets at a height I wanted again just like for like

If it was me that was going to let out this house I would have a safety inspection and the wiring certificated and updated IF required regardless just to cover myself
Best of luck

The regs changed to 2004.

Seems you are pretty much on the ball!

Blimey I type slow! Lol

That's fine then - it's modern enough. What Edition are the Regs at now?

Ah - I see that you COULD use the new colours in 2004 and MUST use them from 2006.

Yes I think thats right - the sheath colour also changed to grey I think.

Cool - I don't think I'll be doing any wiring - I'm just relieved the installation isn't the really old stuff. The house had quite a large extension put on it about 10-12 years ago so I guess the wiring was updated then.

Current regs are 17th edition, 3rd amendment. Unlike gas, where it's a legal requirement for a landlord to have a gas safety cert done every year, there's no obligation to have the electrics inspected, but I would do so. The sparky should do an Electrical Installation Condition Report. It will list any items needing attention as C1, C2 or C3.
C1 is dangerous and must be fixed immediately.
C2 is in need of attention.
C3 is advisory i.e. stuff like no label advising you to test the RCD every month blah blah.
The report will have a 'final verdict' of satisfactory or not satisfactory. If there are any C1 or C2 faults, it has to be marked unsatisfactory.

Thanks. Yes - I will get that done at least to start with and then decide on how frequently to repeat. Gas will be done by the boiler installer and I'll ask him to repeat annually. Always seems like overkill when I do it on my flat as everything is so recent but at least I know it's checked.

Electrical inspection every 5 years should be fine.

If I were intending to live there I'd be tempted to move the sockets (singles I assume?) out of the skirting and put doubles up the wall away from knocks, easier to plug in some chargers and less bending. Bit of a pain attending to holes in skirting, yes, and then checking there's enough spare cable under the floor to allow for resiting, then raggling.....

Ok, you're renting, case dismissed

To be completely upto date I believe that socket heights have been lifted and switch heights have been lowered to make them accessible to everyone

For new build only, sockets have to be at minimum of 450mm, light switches maximum of 1200mm. Doesn't apply to existing installations. It's actually a building regs requirement rather than electrical egs, and is supposedly to help differently-abled persons. Looks appalling and I don't know of any other country where they commit this crime against aesthetics.

I think I'm a lot clearer now on what's needed - thanks everyone.

One final question: The detached garage has a feed running to it. Currently it's just a suspended cable running the 3m between the house and the garage itself. The wiring set-up in the garage is a bit of a shocking (literally) mess - with little spurs off all over the place running to the greenhouse, (now removed) shed, PIR lights etc. I've pulled out most of that already.

I'm thinking what it should have, if I'm to do it properly, is a feed from the main consumer unit to a separate garage consumer unit from which I feed sockets and lights and that the cable should ideally be in conduit and, better still, buried. My understanding, also, is that it goes beyond what the regs allow a DIYer to do. The garage isn't a substantial affair - small single brick-built garage with sloping roof. It's going to be more useful as bike storage etc than a proper garage or workshop.

In the short term, I think I will just terminate the cable with an RCD socket so at least there's (relatively safe) power to the garage. Sound reasonable?

I'll leave the regs to the pros but any permanently suspended cable is a liability. If it were the heavy black protected cable (wire wound with a stout outer sheath) it would be in its favour but ideally bury/conduit is as you suggest.

For safety, especially if you're not resident, I would have thought it best to obtain your power through an extension cable. RCD's are a sensible measure. I'm also wondering where the existing cable is attached at the house end.....

Yes - I don't much like the suspended cable but, logically, it's no worse than an extension lead taken a safe route. It's run directly from the consumer unit in the house and looks, at least, as if it was professionally installed at some point (probably when the garage and house extension were built) - I might even have the docs to show that it was signed off by the building inspector (though I don't know if this is applicable).

Ultimately I'll get the electrician to sign it off or, if there's any doubt, I'll just remove it.

If it's come from the consumer unit direct at least it'll be a 2.5 mm cable then.

Ideally you would run Steel Wire Armoured cable in a trench of 450mm deep (I did say 'ideally'). 2.5mm cable might be a bit marginal for volt drop, so if you do replace it, use 4mm or 6mm SWA. No problem with you digging the trench & laying cable for sparky to connect up. You probably want the sparks to terminate the SWA anyhow, 'cos it'll take you all day.
RCD protection is essential - I like to use one of those small garage/shed consumer units that have an RCD as main switch, so the cable itself is fed from a normal mcb - not an rcd - in the house, and the rcd is at the garage end. It's better this way 'cos when the welder trips the rcd, you can reset it there & then, rather than walking into the blacked-out house to be met with cries of annoyance from your wife
If it was installed professionally in the last 20 years or so, I'd expect it to be rcd protected already.