At least every 5 years
Have the fixed electrical installation inspected and tested by a qualified and competent person, and obtain a report. Sooner if the report itself specifies a shorter interval — the date on the certificate beats the default.
Guide · landlords & managing agents
The landlord EICR, without the 2020 hangover.
The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 have applied to every private tenancy in England since 1 April 2021 — they are not new, and they are not pending. Here is what they ask of you now, what the observation codes mean, and what actually happens when Rick turns up at a tenanted flat in Eccles or Salford.
This page covers England. Wales and Scotland run to their own rules, and licensed HMOs may carry extra conditions from the local authority.
What you actually have to do
01Before a new tenant moves in
Supply a copy of the current report to the incoming tenant before they take occupation. A report older than the stated interval will not do.
Within 28 days
Give a copy of the report to each existing tenant after the inspection — and to a prospective tenant within 28 days of them asking for it.
Within 7 days
Supply a copy to the local housing authority if they request one. They do request them, usually when a tenant has complained about something else entirely.
Within 28 days of the report
Complete remedial or further investigative work for any C1, C2 or FI observation — or sooner, where the report specifies a shorter period — and obtain written confirmation that the work is done.
After the remedial work
Send that written confirmation, with a copy of the report, to the tenants and to the local authority within 28 days of the work being completed.
If you do not
The local authority can serve a remedial notice and, where they are satisfied a landlord has breached the duty, impose a financial penalty of up to £30,000. They can also arrange the remedial work themselves and recover the cost. For the sake of a five-yearly inspection, it is not a sensible corner to cut.
02 · reading the report
C1, C2, C3, FI — what they mean for your deadline.
The word to look for on the front page is satisfactory or unsatisfactory. What drives it is the codes against each observation.
C1
Danger present
Risk of injury here and now. It gets made safe before the electrician leaves the property — exposed live parts, a broken accessory with conductors showing. A C1 makes the report unsatisfactory.
C2
Potentially dangerous
No immediate danger, but it becomes dangerous the moment something else goes wrong — no earthing to a circuit, missing protective bonding, a borrowed neutral. Also makes the report unsatisfactory and forces remedial work.
FI
Further investigation required
Something could not be resolved on the visit and needs opening up or testing again. Treated like a C2 for deadline purposes — it must be followed up.
C3
Improvement recommended
Worth doing, not legally forcing anything. A report with only C3s is still satisfactory. Anyone coding ordinary C3 items as C2s to sell you work is doing you over — this is the single most common abuse in the trade.
03 · on the day
What the inspection involves.
An EICR is a set of measurements, not a look round. The consumer unit comes apart, accessories are sampled, and circuits are tested individually — continuity, insulation resistance, earth fault loop impedance, RCD operating times. The readings go on the schedule of test results at the back of the report, which is the part worth keeping.
That means the power goes off in stages. A one or two-bed flat is usually a two to four hour visit; a larger house or a property with a lot of circuits takes longer. Tenants need telling beforehand, and Rick needs access to the board, the loft hatch and anywhere circuits terminate — not the cupboard that has had a wardrobe in front of it since 2019.
Anything found at C1 is made safe on the spot. Everything else is written up with a code, a location and a plain sentence explaining it, so you can decide what to do rather than decoding an abbreviation.
Worth having ready
- The previous EICR, if there is one — it saves time and shows what has changed.
- Any certificates for work done since: a new board, a shower circuit, an extension.
- Tenant contact details, and a time they can be in.
- Keys or access codes for meter cupboards and communal risers.
- Whether the property is a licensed HMO — the council may attach its own conditions.
04 · portfolios & blocks
More than one property?
Send the address list with the expiry date of each existing report and the visits can be grouped so the certificates stop landing in the same fortnight every five years. Communal areas, landlord's supplies and emergency lighting can be picked up on the same schedule — Rick already looks after over 600 emergency light fittings across managed properties, and rewired 277 flats across two Salford blocks with residents still living in them.