subject: Is Your Current Certificate Of Compliance Updated? [print this page] Is Your Current Certificate Of Compliance Updated?
It has long been in practice that every building, particularly commercial buildings need to have a certificate of compliance. The certificate of compliance is often seen as a prerequisite for a sale of your building. Until recently, though, this has not been true. It had been accepted as standard practice, but has been put into law.
The beginning of May 2009 brought the brand new certificate of compliance into practice. These new rules can be applied to both residential and commercial buildings.
Any electrical installations need to be done by an electrician who is registered with the department of labour. This specific registration ahs to be renewed every year.
Any kind of electrical installation that necessitates the addition of a new supply has to first acquire permission from the supplier of the electricity, also no new connections may be made without a certificate of compliance.
The person accountable for the electrical installation would be the lessor or user. This is usually the owner of the structure, but the responsibility can be transferred to the tenant if a written contract to that effect is signed by both sides.
In effect starting from May 2009, is the prescribed format for your certificate of compliance. Each and every certificate of compliance must have a test report and must have been supplied by a listed electrician.
A certificate of compliance needs to be reissued whenever a change is made to the electric installations of a building.
In the event the certificate of compliance is older than two years, the building it's issued for may not change ownership. In the event you fail to adhere to this as well as some other portions in the new regulations you can be fined or jailed for up to twelve months.
Every owner for any building must have an updated certificate of compliance and also produce it on request.
Admittedly, these regulations seem a little excessive and extremely hard to enforce. Additionally they mean that many South Africans are technically criminals as very few, if any residents of townships will have any kind of certificate of compliance, yet no legal representative will go into the township to try to enforce the ruling.
Nonetheless, the regulations exist for our protection. Illegal and also non compliant cable connections are dangerous and also have been the cause of many deaths in South Africa. The trick is in enforcing the regulations.
What may have to happen is almost a vigilante kind of anonymous tip system by which citizens are expected by law to notify the authorities of any illegal or non compliant electric installations or connections. This is the only way I see it being feasible to implement these new regulations for certificate of compliance concerns.
Nonetheless, it could be preferable to be safe than sorry and be sure your certificate of compliance is up to date and also in accordance with the new regulations that have been put into effect since May 2009. Should you be caught using an incomplete certificate of compliance you may find yourself facing a jail sentence or fine, the prison sentence will show up as a criminal offence which just makes your way of life a whole lot more difficult in terms of things such as financing and getting employment.
