The Buildings We Work In, From Waterloo To West Norwood
Lambeth is the borough next door. From 820 Garratt Lane in Tooting it is about two miles to the Streatham boundary and around three and a half miles up the A23 to Brixton town centre. We have been wiring buildings in this part of south London since 1957.
The borough runs from Waterloo and the South Bank through Kennington, Oval, Vauxhall and Stockwell into Brixton and Clapham, then out to Streatham, Tulse Hill, Herne Hill, West Norwood and Gipsy Hill. SE1, SE11, SE24 and SE27 on one side, SW2, SW4, SW8, SW9 and SW16 on the other. The council is Lambeth Council, with its town hall on Brixton Hill, and the borough borders Southwark, Wandsworth, Merton, Croydon and Bromley. Fire safety law is enforced by London Fire Brigade, which keeps five stations here: Brixton, Clapham, West Norwood and two on the Albert Embankment, one of them the only river fire station in London.
Lektrix Installations Ltd was established in 1957 and is run today by the third generation of the family, company number 00595683, if you would like to check it. We have been NICEIC registered since 1962 and are certified by NICEIC under its Approved Contractor Scheme and its Domestic Installer Scheme. Most of our work is within a few miles of the shop, and a good deal of it is in Lambeth.
Rewires, Consumer Units And Fault Finding
Most homes in Lambeth are pre 1919 or pre 1945 and were subdivided long before modern wiring rules. Rubber and lead sheathed circuits, rewirable fuseboards and borrowed neutrals between flats are the usual reasons a report comes back unsatisfactory. We take on rewires, consumer unit replacements, fault finding and the ordinary domestic electrical work an older house needs, certified to the current edition of BS 7671, the wiring regulations.
Landlord Certificates And Testing
Electrical Installation Condition Reports, portable appliance testing, and the remedial work that follows a C1, C2 or FI code, which must be put right within 28 days unless the report calls for it sooner. We issue the report a Lambeth licence application asks for.
Fire Detection And Alarm Systems
We design, install, commission and maintain fire detection and alarm systems across Lambeth, and we are a BAFE Registered Organisation, ID 303447, for that work, third party certificated by NICEIC. Shared housing is specified to BS 5839-6, commercial premises to BS 5839-1.
Emergency Lighting And Communal Supplies
Escape route lighting designed to BS 5266-1, with the duration the building actually needs, three hours where people sleep on the premises, plus the monthly function test, the annual full duration test and a log book to show for it. We also look after stairwell lighting, landlord supplies, rising mains and communal distribution boards on estate blocks, converted houses and the offices, theatres and hotels around Waterloo.
Period Conversions, Estate Blocks And Flats Above Shops
Lambeth grew quickly and then divided itself up. Brixton went from 10,175 people in 1841 to 62,837 by 1881, and the villas of that boom were split into flats and boarding houses by the start of the twentieth century. Kennington is yellow London stock brick, three storeys and more, used as lodging houses before being converted again, next to the Duchy of Cornwall's Neo Georgian streets. Courtenay Square, Cardigan Street, Denny Street, laid out by Adshead and Ramsey from 1915. Stockwell's Regency core dates from 1825 to 1840, and at Vauxhall about 97 per cent of the housing is flats.
Over that sits one of the largest post war estate layers in inner London: Central Hill at Gipsy Hill, Cressingham Gardens, the Tulse Hill Estate, Stockwell Park, Angell Town, Southwyck House in Brixton, the Barrier Block, built to screen a motorway that was never laid, and the twin nineteen storey towers of the Hurst Street Estate, Park View House and Herne Hill House, finished in 1968. Those bring rising main work, communal lighting and landlord supplies rather than single flat jobs.
Then there are the flats above shops. Frederick Wheeler's four storey shop houses of 1884 to 1891 still define Streatham High Road; the Streatham Hub complex is the modern version, a Tesco with 250 flats over it. The pattern repeats across Lambeth, along Brixton Road, Electric Avenue, Acre Lane, Clapham High Street and Norwood Road: one meter position, a shared escape route, decades of added on wiring.
The work we are called out to most often in these buildings:
- Full and partial rewires
- Consumer unit replacement
- Fault finding on shared supplies
- Metering and separating flat supplies
- Electrical Installation Condition Reports
- Fire alarm installation and servicing
- Emergency lighting and duration testing
- Communal and stairwell lighting
There are also 62 conservation areas covering approximately 30 per cent of the borough, so cable routes, meter positions and external containment need agreeing before anyone drills a frontage. Charge point work is rarely a driveway job in Lambeth either: Brixton, Stockwell, Clapham and Streatham are largely on street with controlled parking, so most of it is communal car parks and workplace charging.
Licensing, EICRs And What The Council Asks For
Lambeth runs all three landlord licensing schemes at the same time. Mandatory HMO licensing has applied since 1 October 2018 to any property occupied by five or more people in two or more households sharing facilities. Above that sits a borough wide additional licensing designation, which began on 9 December 2021 and runs five years, so it expires in December 2026. It catches properties occupied by three or more individuals not already licensed, multiple occupied flats in purpose built blocks of more than two flats, and converted flats that did not meet the 1991 Building Regulations where less than two thirds of the building is owner occupied.
Selective licensing then covers ordinary single family and two sharer rentals across most of Lambeth. Phase 1 commenced on 2 September 2024 across four wards and Phase 2 on 1 September 2025 across a further nineteen, leaving only Vauxhall and Waterloo and South Bank outside the scheme. The fee is £1,025: Part A of £717.50 with the application, Part B of £307.50 on approval. Letting without a required licence is a criminal offence.
The practical effect for a Lambeth landlord is that a satisfactory EICR is a condition of getting and keeping a licence. The duty stands on its own as well: every fixed installation in a rented home must be inspected and tested at least every five years, the report given to the tenant within 28 days and to the council within seven days of a request. The maximum civil penalty rose from £30,000 to £40,000 on 1 November 2025. We handle that cycle in one place, testing and inspection, the remedial work, the certificate and the reminder five years out.
Fire Risk Assessments In Lambeth
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 puts the duty on the responsible person, the employer, the owner, the landlord or the managing agent, to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk. In Lambeth that takes in non domestic premises and the common parts of blocks of flats and houses in multiple occupation, but never the inside of a private home.
What changed in 2023 matters more than most people realise. From 1 October that year, section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 removed the old five employee threshold and deleted the word significant from the recording duty. Every responsible person must now record the findings in full, whatever the size of the premises, and Home Office guidance is clear that the record must name anyone appointed to carry the assessment out. A checklist in a drawer no longer meets it, and every fire risk assessment we write is built around it.
We should be plain about certification. Lektrix Installations Ltd is a BAFE Registered Organisation, ID 303447, for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of fire detection and alarm systems, third party certificated by NICEIC. That scheme covers alarm systems. Fire risk assessment is certificated under a separate BAFE scheme, which we do not hold, and we tell you so rather than let a logo imply otherwise. In England there is no licence, no protected title and no mandatory register for fire risk assessors: article 18(5) of the Order sets an outcome test instead, sufficient training and experience, or knowledge and other qualities. Since you have to record who carried out your assessment, we tell you before you book who is attending and what their background is.
The premises we assess in Lambeth are the ones the borough is full of: converted houses in multiple occupation around Brixton, Stockwell and Clapham, the 1930s mansion blocks along Streatham High Road, mixed use buildings with a shop or bar beneath sleeping accommodation, the newer blocks at Vauxhall and Nine Elms, and the hotels and licensed premises around Waterloo and the South Bank. Where a building needs intrusive opening up, an external wall appraisal, or falls within the higher risk regime, at least 18 metres in height, or at least seven storeys, we say so and help you find a specialist.
What Happens After The Report
The findings repeat themselves across Lambeth: detection below the grade the building needs under BS 5839-6, emergency lighting missing or short of the duration its escape route calls for under BS 5266-1, fire doors without intumescent strips, cold smoke seals or self closers, outstanding C1 and C2 codes, and no test log.
That is where most assessments stop. We can carry out the electrical and detection items ourselves. The assessment is still invoiced on its own, the action plan is written to the standards rather than to a product, and you are free to take it to any installer.
Booking And Access
An assessment is quoted per building after a short conversation about it, how many floors and flats, how the escape route runs, what sits underneath. Parking is controlled across much of Lambeth, so we ask about permits and estate access first, and survey licensed premises outside trading hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need an EICR to get a landlord licence in the borough?
In practice, yes. A Lambeth licence application asks for supporting documents including gas safety certificates and electrical reports. The duty applies anyway: every fixed installation in a rented home must be inspected and tested at least every five years, and sooner if the previous report says so.
Which wards are covered by selective licensing?
Almost all of them. Phase 1 began on 2 September 2024 in Knights Hill, Streatham Common and Vale, Streatham Hill East and Streatham St Leonard's. Phase 2 followed on 1 September 2025 across nineteen more wards, leaving only Vauxhall and Waterloo and South Bank outside the scheme.
Does my converted Victorian house in Brixton need a fire risk assessment?
The building does, although the inside of an individual flat does not. The Fire Safety Order covers the common parts, the structure, the external walls and the flat entrance doors onto the escape route.
Who enforces fire safety law in this borough?
London Fire Brigade, acting for the London Fire Commissioner. Five stations cover Lambeth: Brixton, Clapham, West Norwood and the two on the Albert Embankment, one of which is the only river fire station in London. Housing standards and licence conditions come from the council.
How often must a fire risk assessment be reviewed?
The Order sets no fixed interval. Article 9(3) requires it to be reviewed regularly so that it stays up to date, and particularly after a significant change such as an extension or a change of use. Yearly review is common practice, not a statutory rule.
What sort of fire alarm does a shared house need?
It depends on the building, not on a single rule. The benchmark councils work to is the LACORS housing fire safety guidance of 2008, read alongside BS 5839-6. A normal risk shared house of up to four storeys is usually mains powered interlinked detection on the escape route with extra detectors in the higher risk rooms; five and six storey shared houses and bedsit properties move up to a panel system. Licence conditions in Lambeth often ask for more than the guidance does, and the licence conditions are what bind you.
Are you certified for fire risk assessments as well as fire alarms?
We are a BAFE Registered Organisation, ID 303447, for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of fire detection and alarm systems, certificated by NICEIC. Fire risk assessment sits under a separate BAFE scheme, which we do not hold, and we say so before you book.
What does a fire risk assessment cost?
There is no fixed figure. Our hourly and day rates for electrical work are published on the pricing page, but an assessment is quoted per building, because a two storey converted house and a nineteen storey block are not the same job. Tell us the number of floors and flats and what sits on the ground floor and we will price it.
Can you work in a conservation area?
Yes, and it comes up often: 62 conservation areas cover approximately 30 per cent of the borough. Cable routes, meter positions and external containment need agreeing first, particularly around Kennington, Stockwell Park and Clapham Old Town.