What is an EICR? What it checks and when you need one

What the inspector does

An EICR is the formal name for what used to be called a periodic inspection. It looks at the fixed installation: the consumer unit, the cables, sockets, switches, light fittings and anything wired in, such as a shower or a cooker. Plug in appliances are not part of it.

The work has two halves. The first is a visual inspection for damage, wear, overheating and workmanship below the standard. The second is testing with instruments: continuity of the protective conductors, insulation resistance, polarity, earth fault loop impedance and the operation of every RCD, as NICEIC sets out. The power goes off circuit by circuit while that happens. A one bedroom flat takes a few hours and a large house can take a full day.

An inspector does not open every accessory. The extent of the inspection and anything that could not be reached, such as a boarded loft or a socket behind a fitted wardrobe, are written down as limitations on the report.

What you get at the end

The report opens with an overall verdict, satisfactory or unsatisfactory, then lists each observation with a code. C1 means danger is present now, C2 potentially dangerous, C3 improvement recommended, and FI further investigation needed. Any C1, C2 or FI makes the report unsatisfactory; C3 alone does not. Behind that sits a schedule of every circuit with its test results, and a recommended date for the next inspection, which can be sooner than the usual interval if the inspector has a reason.

An unsatisfactory report is not a verdict on the whole house. It is a list, and most lists are short: a missing bonding conductor, a cracked socket, a circuit without RCD protection. The inspector will usually quote for the remedial work, and you are free to have it done by somebody else.

How often an inspection is due

Electrical Safety First also recommends an inspection when a property is being prepared for letting and before buying a home that has been lived in. The date written on the report itself takes priority over any of these.

Private landlords in England: the legal duties

The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 put the duties on the landlord, not the electrician. The government's guidance says a landlord must:

• have the installation inspected and tested by a qualified and competent person at least every five years
• give a copy of the report to existing tenants within 28 days of the inspection
• give a copy to a new tenant before they move in, and to a prospective tenant within 28 days of a request
• send a copy to the local council within 7 days if it asks
• complete remedial or investigative work within 28 days, or sooner if the report says so
• send written confirmation that the work is done to the tenant and the council within 28 days of finishing it

The council can impose a penalty of up to £40,000. Lodgers living with their landlord, long leases of seven years or more, student halls, hostels and care homes are outside the rules; houses in multiple occupation are inside them. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own five yearly requirement.

Selling or buying a house

There is no legal requirement for a seller to have an EICR. What a buyer's solicitor asks for is the paperwork for work already done: the certificates for a new consumer unit, a rewire or an extension circuit, and the building regulations compliance certificates that go with notifiable work. Missing ones cause more delays than the absence of a report.

A buyer can commission an EICR before exchange with the seller's permission, and on an older house it is worth more than a general survey on this one subject, because a surveyor looks at the wiring rather than testing it.

What it costs

A domestic EICR is typically £150 to £300, with a one or two bedroom flat at £120 to £200 and a four or five bedroom house at £250 to £400. Remedial work is priced separately once the report is written. Ask in advance whether a re-issued report after remedials is included, because some inspectors charge a second visit for it.