Electricians In Tooting, SW17
Tooting is a Victorian and Edwardian terraced suburb, built out street by street from the 1870s as the railways and then the Northern line arrived. Our premises are at 820 Garratt Lane, in Tooting Broadway ward. Lektrix Installations Ltd was established in 1957. Companies House has us as company number 00595683, incorporated in December 1957, has been NICEIC registered since April 1962, and is run by the third generation of the family.
The local authority is Wandsworth London Borough Council, at the Town Hall on Wandsworth High Street, SW18 2PU, and the fire and rescue service is London Fire Brigade. SW17 is the core postcode district and takes in Tooting, Summerstown and Furzedown; we also cover SW12 Balham, SW16 Streatham, SW18 Wandsworth, SW19 Wimbledon and CR4 Mitcham.
The housing splits three ways, and that decides the work. There are the pre 1919 terraces, including the 1,244 houses of the Totterdown Fields estate off Upper Tooting Road, the first London County Council cottage estate and a conservation area since 1978. There is interwar and post war stock, from the Edwardian streets of Furzedown to the council blocks that give this corner one of the highest concentrations of social housing in the borough. And there is a newer layer at Springfield Village, where the 1840 hospital buildings are being converted alongside new flats.
Rewires And Consumer Unit Upgrades
A pre 1919 terrace has usually been through rubber insulated, then lead sheathed, then early PVC cable, and is on its second or third consumer unit. We carry out full and partial rewires, board replacements with RCBO and surge protection, main bonding to the gas and water services, and earthing upgrades, tested to BS 7671:2018+A4:2026 and certified. On a Tooting terrace we plan the cable routes around original floors and cornices first, because the making good is what people remember.
Condition Reports And Testing
A rented home needs its fixed installation inspected and tested at least every five years, or sooner if the last report says so. We inspect, code the findings honestly, put right what needs it, and issue the report you hand to a tenant or the council.
Fire Alarm And Detection Systems
We design, install, commission and maintain fire detection and fire alarm systems. Lektrix Installations Ltd is a BAFE Registered Organisation, ID 303447, holding BAFE SP203-1 for exactly that work, third party certificated by NICEIC. That runs from interlinked mains alarms in a shared house to a panelled system across a converted block.
Emergency Lighting And Communal Parts
In a conversion or a purpose built block, the landlord's supply, the stair lighting, the door entry and the escape route lighting sit outside every individual flat and are easily neglected. We install, test and log emergency lighting and look after communal boards, risers and metering. Conversions around Tooting Bec are where we see this most.
EV Charge Points
Off street parking is scarce on the terraced streets of Tooting Graveney and most of the older core, so demand here is mainly communal bay charging in blocks, workplace charging along the Garratt Lane corridor, and bays at the new flats at Springfield Village. Two of Wandsworth's eight Article 4 Directions sit on this patch, at Totterdown Fields and the Heaver Estate. At Totterdown Fields the direction removes permitted development rights for hard surfacing of front gardens, so a new driveway there is a planning matter before it is an electrical one.
Commercial And Light Industrial
Along Garratt Lane and Plough Lane there are trade counters, workshops and small industrial units needing three phase distribution, machine supplies and lighting. On Tooting High Street and Mitcham Road it is shops, restaurants and takeaways with flats above.
Fire Risk Assessments For Local Premises
If you are responsible for premises that are not a single private home, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies. Article 9 requires the responsible person to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the fire risk. Since 1 October 2023 that assessment must be recorded in full, whatever the size of the business, and the record must name whoever carried it out.
We carry out fire risk assessments across Tooting and the neighbouring districts, and we are straight about where our certification sits. Our BAFE registration covers fire detection and alarm systems. Fire risk assessment is certificated under a separate BAFE scheme, which we do not hold, and we say so before you ask. English law does not require an assessor to hold a named qualification or to appear on a register: article 18(5) sets an outcome test instead, being sufficient training and experience, or knowledge and other qualities, to do the work properly. We tell you before you book who will attend and what their background is.
Premises we assess in this area include:
- Licensed and unlicensed houses in multiple occupation
- Common parts of conversions and purpose built blocks
- Flats above shops on the main road frontages
- Shops, restaurants, takeaways and licensed premises
- Offices, workshops and trade counters
- Covered market buildings and multi unit retail
- Schools, nurseries and student accommodation
- Care and supported housing premises
The two covered markets at Tooting Broadway show why a local assessment reads differently from a template: dozens of independent food and retail units under one roof, sharing an escape route and a detection system.
Because we commission alarm systems for a living, the detection findings are written to BS 5839-6 and BS 5839-1 categories rather than to a product. The assessment is quoted and invoiced on its own, and you are free to take the action plan to any installer. Where a building needs intrusive Type 3 or Type 4 work, an external wall appraisal, or the higher risk regime that applies above 18 metres or seven storeys, we say so and point you to a specialist.
Landlord Licensing In Wandsworth
Wandsworth runs all three licensing schemes, and this corner of the borough sits inside every one of them. Mandatory HMO licensing continues borough wide for houses occupied by five or more people in two or more households, and additional HMO licensing runs borough wide from 1 July 2025 to 1 July 2030, catching the three- and four person shared houses the mandatory scheme misses.
Selective licensing Designation 1 runs from 1 July 2025 to 1 July 2030 and covers four wards:
- Furzedown
- South Balham
- Tooting Bec
- Tooting Broadway
Three of those four are Tooting wards, and our own postcode, SW17 0LZ, sits inside one of them. Selective licensing catches ordinary rented homes let to a single household or two sharers, so a conventional terrace or conversion flat there now needs a licence even when it is not a house in multiple occupation.
Licence conditions turn on evidence. A landlord must obtain an Electrical Installation Condition Report at least every five years, give it to an existing tenant within 28 days, to a new tenant before they move in, and to the council within seven days of a request. Any C1, C2 or FI item must be put right within 28 days, or sooner if the report sets a shorter period. Our landlord compliance page sets the duties out in full.
The council is enforcing across the borough. Since July 2025 it has carried out more than 110 inspections and issued over 40 formal notices, citing missing fire doors and heat alarms, obstructed escape routes and inadequate means of escape, with penalties of up to £30,000 for operating an unlicensed property.
Neighbourhoods And Postcodes We Cover
We work daily in and around:
- Tooting Broadway and the high street, SW17
- Tooting Bec, Trinity Road and Bedford Hill, SW17 and SW12
- Upper Tooting and the Heaver Estate, SW17
- Tooting Graveney and the Mitcham Road arm, SW17
- Furzedown and Streatham Park, SW16 and SW17
- Summerstown, Plough Lane and the Wandle, SW17 and SW19
- Earlsfield and the Garratt Lane corridor, SW18
- Balham, Colliers Wood and Mitcham, SW12, SW19 and CR4
The buildings we are asked about most sit inside that ring: St George's Hospital on Blackshaw Road, Springfield University Hospital, Graveney School in Furzedown, Ernest Bevin Academy on Beechcroft Road, and the Grade I listed former Granada cinema on Mitcham Road.
How We Work
One firm, one team, one invoice. If a condition report flags a problem we put it right; if an assessment calls for detection or escape lighting, the people who fit it are the people who commission it. We are minutes from most Tooting addresses, and parking is the practical constraint on these streets, so we say in advance if a bay suspension is needed.
What It Costs
Hourly, half day and day rates are on our pricing page, with fixed prices for condition reports and appliance testing. A fire risk assessment is quoted per building after a short conversation, because the figure turns on size, use and how many people sleep there.
Fire And Electrical Safety Questions From Tooting Landlords
Does my rented house in SW17 need a licence?
Very probably. Wandsworth licenses HMOs of five or more occupiers borough wide, three and four person shared houses borough wide from 1 July 2025, and ordinary single household lets in four selective licensing wards from the same date. Three of those four wards sit in this area. Furzedown is one and Tooting Bec another. The third is Tooting Broadway, which is the ward our own premises are in, and South Balham is the fourth.
Do I need a fire risk assessment for a flat above a shop on Mitcham Road?
If the building holds two or more sets of domestic premises, the common parts, the structure, the external walls and the flat entrance doors fall under the Fire Safety Order, and someone is the responsible person for them. The inside of a private flat does not. A commercial kitchen below sleeping accommodation is the most common gap we find here.
How often does a fire risk assessment have to be reviewed?
The Fire Safety Order sets no fixed interval. Article 9(3) requires review often enough to keep the assessment up to date, and particularly after a significant change such as alterations, a conversion or a change of use. Annual review is common practice rather than a statutory rule.
What grade of fire alarm system does a shared house need?
It depends on the building. Councils apply the LACORS housing fire safety guidance. A two storey shared house at normal risk is usually Grade D LD3 as a minimum, with detection in the escape route and the living room and a heat detector in the kitchen; a licensed HMO commonly needs Grade D1 LD2, and a three storey or larger shared house a Grade A panelled system. Licence conditions can require more.
Is an EICR a legal requirement if I own and live in my own house?
No. The five yearly inspection duty applies to landlords under the electrical safety standards regulations, not to owner occupiers, and no law requires a homeowner to have a report every ten years. It is still worth doing on pre 1919 stock.
Are you BAFE registered for fire risk assessments?
No, and we say so plainly. We are a BAFE Registered Organisation, ID 303447, under scheme SP203-1, which covers fire detection and alarm systems. Fire risk assessment sits under a separate BAFE scheme, which we do not hold. The law asks for a competent person under article 18(5), not a certificated one.
Can I have a charge point fitted on a Totterdown Fields street?
Often yes, but the parking is the obstacle rather than the electrics. Totterdown Fields is a conservation area with an Article 4 Direction removing permitted development rights for hard surfacing of front gardens and for boundary walls and gates facing the road, so a new driveway is a planning matter first.