Dear Katy , Thank you for your letter of 10 enclosing Regulation 28 Report relating to the death of Mr John Charles Alliston: am saddened to learn of the death of Mr Alliston and offer my sincere condolences to his family. Thank you for highlighting the particular issues which arose from the Inquest and hope the following response may be informative_ The Government is committed to offering greater protection to tenants to prevent similar tragedies and ensuring rented properties are safe. Existing legislation implies a covenant into most short leases that the landlord will keep installations for the supply of electricity in repair and proper working order; and it is currently best practice for landlords to organise periodic inspection and testing and to provide a report to the tenant We recognise, however; that we must go further: As you are already aware, on 19 2018 we announced that we will introduce mandatory requirement on landlords in the private rented sector to ensure electrical installations in their property are inspected at least every five years, to ensure meet the electrical safety standards introduced by the Regulations In addition to this, on 29 January 2019, in the response to our consultation on electrical safety in the private rented sector, we announced that we will produce new guidance to which landlords may have regard in determining who is competent to out an electrical safety inspection: Inspectors and testers will sign a checklist certifying their competence or that are a member of a competent person scheme. This will ensure that electrical installations in the Private Rented Sector are safer and further reduce deaths and injuries due to electric shocks and fires caused by electric faults. Fry May July they carry they

Please be assured that this is a matter of paramount importance to me, and my Department is working to bring regulations into force as soon as possible, subject to parliamentary approval and timetable_ L~ M~ RT HON JAMES BROKENSHIRE MP