Portable Appliance Testing (PAT)
Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) is the in-service inspection and testing of electrical appliances to verify they are safe to use. It covers plug-in equipment, items connected by a flexible cable and socket rather than hard-wired into the installation, ranging from kettles and toasters to washing machines, portable heaters, and lamps. A PAT inspection combines a visual check (plug condition, cable, casing, signs of heat damage) with electrical tests using a dedicated PAT testing device. Items that pass are normally labelled with a sticker showing the test date, the result, and the date for the next inspection. The process is also referred to as Electrical Equipment Testing (EET) in the updated 5th Edition of the IET Code of Practice for In-Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment, which is the authoritative technical benchmark for how testing should be conducted.
Is PAT testing a legal requirement for landlords?
In England and Wales, PAT testing is not named as a requirement in any specific statute applying to private rented properties. There is no law that says a private landlord must PAT test every year. This is the source of significant confusion.
What the law does require is that any electrical appliance a landlord supplies must be safe for use throughout the tenancy. That duty flows from several overlapping statutory provisions: the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, which implies an obligation to maintain the property in repair and proper working order; the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, which mandate five-yearly EICR inspections of the fixed electrical installation; the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 in its application to persons managing property as a business; and the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, which requires rented properties to be fit for habitation throughout the tenancy.
PAT testing covers supplied appliances; the mandatory five-year electrical safety check that every private landlord in England must carry out is the Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR), which inspects the fixed wiring, sockets, and consumer unit, not the plug-in appliances. The two obligations are distinct and both matter.
From working with self-managing landlords, the most dangerous misunderstanding in this area is treating "PAT testing is not legally required" as meaning "appliance safety does not matter". If a landlord-supplied appliance causes injury or a fire and the landlord cannot show they took reasonable steps to check its condition, the statutory duty of care has not been met regardless of whether a formal PAT test was carried out.
What appliances need testing?
The IET Code of Practice defines portable appliances broadly: equipment under 18 kg that is intended to be moved, or can easily be moved, while connected to a supply. In a furnished rental property this covers kettles, toasters, microwaves, irons, lamps, portable heaters, electric blankets, fans, and extension leads. White goods, including fridges, freezers, washing machines, dishwashers, are categorised as stationary equipment rather than portable, but are still covered by the appliance safety obligation and should be included in any inspection programme.
Appliances belonging to the tenant are not the landlord's responsibility. Only items the landlord supplies as part of the letting need to be checked.
How often should landlords test?
There is no fixed legal interval for private landlords in England. The IET Code of Practice recommends a risk-based approach: high-risk items used frequently (irons, portable heaters) warrant more regular checking than low-risk stationary equipment. Industry consensus is that annual visual inspection at every tenancy change and formal testing every one to four years, depending on the appliance type and condition, is appropriate for furnished residential lets.
For HMO landlords, PAT testing is effectively mandatory: most local authority HMO licensing conditions require all landlord-supplied appliances to be tested before a licence is granted and at defined intervals thereafter. Annual testing is the norm for communal appliances in HMOs.
Who can carry out PAT testing?
PAT testing does not legally require a qualified electrician. The IET Code of Practice specifies that testing must be carried out by a "competent person", someone with sufficient knowledge and experience to carry out the inspection safely and interpret the results correctly. Many landlords carry out visual inspections themselves and use a qualified tester or electrician for the electrical tests on higher-risk items. For most furnished single-lets, hiring a PAT tester costs between £50 and £150 depending on the number of items; the resulting certificate is straightforward documentary evidence that the duty of care was exercised.
Scotland and Wales
In Scotland, the position is stricter. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 and its accompanying Repairing Standard impose an explicit obligation on landlords to ensure all supplied electrical appliances are in a reasonable state of repair and proper working order, with PAT testing being the recognised method of demonstrating this. Testing must be carried out at least every five years, or at a change of tenancy. Scottish HMO licences typically require annual PAT testing.
In Wales, the Renting Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) (Wales) Regulations 2022 include electrical safety duties covering landlord-supplied appliances, with PAT testing accepted as the standard method of demonstrating compliance.
Record-keeping
The underlying statutory obligation, that supplied appliances must be safe, demands that the duty was exercised in practice. The underlying statutory obligation cannot be met in the abstract.
A landlord who can produce PAT test certificates, purchase dates, and check-in inventory photographs showing appliance condition at the start of a tenancy is in a defensible position if a problem arises. A landlord who can only say they thought the appliances looked fine is not. Landlords using August can set reminders for PAT testing intervals alongside EICR and gas safety renewals in the compliance checklist, so certificate dates are tracked in one place rather than managed across separate spreadsheets.
The underlying statutory obligation on all private landlords, that supplied appliances must be safe throughout the tenancy, derives from the same fitness for habitation framework explained in the property condition entry.
For a full practical guide, including what to test, how frequently, how to find a tester, and how to keep records that would withstand a compliance challenge, see our PAT testing guidance for landlords.
Frequently asked questions
Is PAT testing a legal requirement for landlords in England?
Not as a named statutory requirement. There is no law that specifically mandates annual PAT testing for private landlords in England. However, landlords who supply electrical appliances have a clear statutory duty under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and related legislation to ensure those appliances are safe throughout the tenancy. PAT testing is the most practical and defensible way to demonstrate that duty has been met. Saying an appliance looked fine is not equivalent to showing it was checked.
Do I need PAT testing for an unfurnished rental property?
If you supply no electrical appliances, the property is genuinely unfurnished with only hard-wired fixtures, then PAT testing has nothing to test. The obligation attaches to appliances you supply. If you supply even a single item (a fridge, a portable heater, an extractor fan on a plug), that item is within scope.
What is the difference between PAT testing and an EICR?
An EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) inspects the fixed electrical installation: wiring, consumer unit, sockets, and switches. It is a named legal requirement for private landlords in England under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 and must be carried out every five years by a qualified electrician. PAT testing inspects plug-in appliances supplied by the landlord. The two checks are complementary and cover different things; both are relevant to a fully furnished property.
