How Taff Housing keeps electrical certificates accurate across 1,600 properties with Shine Forms

‘It helps take the results of electrical testing and make the process smoother and easier. From paper, onto certification, to be saved and sent to the tenant.’

Andrew Rodwell Senior Electrician, Taff Housing

In this story

• Five engineers maintaining certificates across 1,600 social housing properties
• Built-in regulation intelligence flags errors before senior review
• Template modification saves hours on follow-up remedial work
• Easy certificate sharing between engineers and the senior reviewer
• Custom-branded PDFs sent directly to tenants
• Twelve years of reliability through regulation changes

Customer summary

Taff Housing is a Cardiff-based housing association managing around 1,600 properties and looking after roughly 4,000 tenants. Unlike many associations that spread across regions, Taff Housing focuses exclusively on Cardiff, which lets the team build deep local knowledge of the homes they look after.

Behind every home lies the responsibility of keeping it safe and compliant. That includes the electrical certificates that prove every property meets BS 7671 requirements, produced consistently across the team and delivered to tenants on time.

The team has used Shine Forms since 2014.

‘I’ve been with the company for around seven and a half years,’ says Andrew Rodwell, Senior Electrician at Taff Housing. ‘In that time, Shine Forms has been how we produce every certificate.‘

Five engineers, 1,600 properties, one consistent workflow

Taff Housing’s in-house electrical team handles every certificate the association produces, from five-yearly EICRs to installation certificates, minor works and remedials.

Maintaining 1,600 properties on a five-yearly EICR cycle is a significant compliance task. Every property needs testing, every certificate needs producing, and every result needs to reach the right tenant within 14 days under Welsh housing rules.

The team handles this with a clear workflow. Engineers visit properties with pre-printed forms to capture their test results and observations onsite. Back at the office, they type the results into Shine Forms to produce the certificate.

‘They’ll go to site with pre-printed forms, scribble down their notes, readings, any information they need, and then go back to Shine Forms to type up the certificates,’ Andrew explains.

Once a certificate is complete, it comes to him for review before being passed to the compliance team for tenant distribution.

‘They fill them out, then pass them over to me. I’ll quality check them, and we save it on our system.‘

Shine Forms catches what engineers might miss

For someone reviewing certificates from a team of engineers, regulation intelligence built into the software changes the role. Rather than starting every check from scratch, Andrew sees certificates that have already been validated against BS 7671 as they were entered.

‘Shine Forms is good at picking up bits and bobs that you may have otherwise not noticed,’ he says. ‘When certificates come over to me, I can double-check them.’

The software flags anything that looks wrong before the engineer submits the certificate.

‘It has the intelligence that picks up if it believes someone may not have input something correctly,’ he explains.

Modify existing certificates, don’t start from scratch

A large portion of Taff’s work comes from remedial jobs that follow an EICR. Rather than producing a brand-new certificate every time, engineers can copy and modify the original.

‘If we carry out an EICR and there are follow-up works and remedials, it’s really handy because you can modify the existing templates,’ he says. ‘That’s a big time saver. You don’t have to start from scratch and type everything out again.’

Across hundreds of similar social housing properties, the ability to reuse existing certificates makes a huge difference to how much time the team spends on paperwork rather than electrical work.

Easy sharing between engineers and the senior electrician

With five engineers producing certificates and one senior electrician checking them, the team needs to share files quickly and fix issues without disruption.

‘It’s very easy to get them back and forth,’ Andrew says. ‘If there are any slight errors that need to be rectified, we can sort it quickly.’

That responsiveness matters when Welsh housing rules give the team 14 days to get every certificate to the tenant.

Custom-branded PDFs that reach every tenant

Every certificate that leaves Taff Housing represents the association to its tenants. The team uses Shine Forms’ custom branding so each PDF carries their logo and identity.

Once Andrew has reviewed and saved each certificate, it goes to the compliance team to be printed and posted. Posting every certificate is the most reliable way to make sure it reaches the right tenant, whether or not they’re online.

Whether produced for one property or hundreds, every certificate reaches the tenant looking professional and on-brand.

Software that keeps up with regulations

Taff Housing is registered with NAPIT, which means the team’s electrical work is assessed against BS 7671 as part of their scheme membership.

Keeping certificates up to date with the latest amendments is part of the job.

‘We’re audited by them, so keeping up to date with the new regs is a must for us,’ Andrew says.

Amendment 4 was published on 15 April 2026, with the transition to it required by October. Shine Forms will be updated ahead of that date so engineers continue producing compliant certificates.

Responsive support over the long term

Over twelve years, Taff’s electrical team has built a working relationship with Shine Forms that comes down to one thing. Quick responses when something needs looking at.

‘I’ve messaged Sean and Shine Forms support a few times about bits and bobs, and they’re always responsive,’ he says. ‘They always answer back. They always have an answer. They’re great.‘

Smoother certification from site to tenant

For Taff Housing, Shine Forms has handled twelve years of regulation changes, team changes and a portfolio of 1,600 properties without becoming the problem the team needs to manage.

‘It helps take the results of electrical testing and make the process smoother and easier. From paper, onto certification, to be saved and sent to the tenant.’

Andrew Rodwell Senior Electrician Taff Housing