Should tenant distribution boards be included in a landlord's electrical thermography survey?

It depends on who is responsible for them under the lease, but they should be on someone’s survey. A landlord’s survey normally covers the main switchboards, rising mains and landlord supplies up to each tenant’s incoming isolator. The boards beyond that point usually sit with the tenant. The gap opens when each side assumes the other has them covered.

Where the line usually falls

In a multi-let office, retail or industrial building, the landlord or managing agent looks after the incoming supply, the main LV switchboard, the rising mains or rising busbar, landlord’s lighting and power, and the mechanical plant. Each tenant’s supply usually becomes the tenant’s responsibility at the incoming isolator or meter for their demise. The lease and the building’s electrical schedule set the exact point, and it is worth checking both before the survey is scoped.

Why tenant boards end up on nobody’s list

Tenants change. Fit-outs add new boards. A smaller tenant may have no maintenance contract at all, and a larger one may assume the building survey already includes them. Meanwhile the FM team sees the risers every year and the tenant boards never. A tenant’s board is still in the same building and often on the same riser, so it is worth knowing it has been looked at.

Three ways to close the gap

Offer tenants a place on the landlord’s visit. The thermographer is already on site with access arranged; adding tenant boards on the same day means the least disruption.
Ask tenants for their own survey report. Some leases or building rules already require tenants to maintain their installation; a current thermography report is a simple thing to ask for.
Check the lease. Where the lease allows it, some landlords cover tenant boards centrally. Your managing agent or surveyor will know what applies.

Access and timing

Tenant boards are usually inside occupied space, so the survey needs the tenant’s agreement, a contact on the day and someone authorised to open the covers. A connection only shows its condition when it carries current, so tenant areas are best imaged during normal working hours, when lighting, small power and IT are in use.

What the report shows

The report can be split by area, landlord and each tenant, so every party receives the findings for the equipment they are responsible for. Each finding has a thermal and visual image, the measured temperature, exactly where it was taken, and the difference in °C from a like-for-like reference. Ti inspects and reports; the responsible party’s electrician investigates and carries out any work.

What we’ve seen off the usual route

Equipment outside a building’s usual survey route deserves the same attention as the main boards. On a commercial warehouse with rooftop solar PV, our ITC Level 3 thermographer recorded an apparent temperature of 195.0 °C at the main isolator supply connection in a roof-level PV distribution board, with ambient at 24.0 °C. That board sat outside the site’s usual survey route. Read the case.

Frequently asked questions

Who pays for the tenant boards?

That depends on the lease. Because the report is split by area, the share for each tenant’s boards is easy to identify if it needs to be recharged.

What if a tenant refuses access?

The report records the area as not inspected, with the reason, so the landlord has a written record that it was offered.

Does a thermography survey replace the tenant’s EICR?

No. Thermography and periodic testing answer different questions; most sites need both.

Should tenant distribution boards be included in a landlord’s electrical thermography survey?