EICR Explained for Landlords: What the Electrician Walks, and Why It's Every Five Years

An EICR — Electrical Installation Condition Report — is the document a qualified electrician produces after inspecting and testing the fixed wiring in a property: the consumer unit, the circuits, the sockets, switches and light fittings. It records what was checked, codes every defect by how dangerous it is, and ends with one verdict: satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Every private landlord in the UK now needs one at least every five years, and since 2025 so do social landlords in England.

That's the paragraph. The rest of this page is what the rules actually require, what happens on the day, how to read the report without being sold work you don't need, and what to keep an eye on in the five years between.

Who needs one, and since when

The five-year rule is now UK-wide for rented homes, but it arrived nation by nation, and the details differ.

"At least" is doing real work in every row. If the report says the next inspection should be sooner — three years, one year — that's your deadline, not the five. Older installations, properties with a history of problems and HMOs often get a shorter interval.

If you own the home you live in, nothing requires an EICR. Electricians' industry guidance suggests roughly every ten years for owner-occupied homes, and one is worth having before you buy an older property or before you let one out for the first time.

The deadlines, in England

The regulations run on a small set of clocks. Miss any one and the local council can act.

Written confirmation means paperwork from the electrician who did the work: a new satisfactory EICR, an Electrical Installation Certificate, or a Minor Works certificate, depending on the job.

The penalty for breaching these duties is a civil fine from the council, now up to £40,000 per breach following the Renters' Rights Act 2025 (it was £30,000). Councils can also serve a remedial notice, arrange the work themselves and recover the cost from you.

Wales runs a slightly different clock — the current report goes to the contract-holder within 14 days of them moving in, or within 14 days of the inspection — so check the rules for the nation your property is in, not the one you live in.

What happens on the day

An EICR is an inspection and a test, and the testing part means the power goes off. Tell your tenants in advance, and warn them about anything that won't like losing power — freezers, medical equipment, home servers, anything with a timer.

For a typical flat or small house, expect a few hours. A large house, a property with outbuildings, or an HMO takes longer. Here's the order most electricians work in.

1. The consumer unit

Everything starts at the board. The electrician looks at:

• Its age and type — whether it's a modern unit with RCD protection, an older fused board, or something in between
• Whether the circuits are labelled, and whether the labels are true
• Signs of heat — discolouration, melted plastic, a smell of burning, scorch marks around breakers or fuses
• The main earth, and whether the earthing arrangement is what it should be for the supply
• Main protective bonding — the green-and-yellow cables that connect incoming gas and water pipes to the earth. Missing or disconnected bonding is one of the most common serious findings.

2. Dead testing — power off

With the supply isolated, circuit by circuit:

• Continuity of protective conductors — is the earth path actually connected all the way out to every point?
• Ring circuit continuity — on socket ring circuits, is the ring genuinely a ring, or broken somewhere behind a wall?
• Insulation resistance — is the cable insulation still keeping live, neutral and earth apart, or has age, heat or damage broken it down?
• Polarity — are things wired the right way round, so a switch actually switches the live?

3. Live testing — power back on

• Earth fault loop impedance — if a fault happened, would enough current flow to trip the protection quickly? This is a measurement against a maximum value for each circuit.
• Prospective fault current at the origin
• RCD operation — does each residual current device trip, and within the required time?

Every result is written into a schedule of test results, one line per circuit. That table is the heart of the report, and it's the part most landlords never look at.

4. The walk, room by room

Then the visual inspection through the property:

• Sockets, switches and light fittings — cracked, loose, scorched, or overloaded with adaptors
• Bathrooms and shower rooms, where the rules on what can go where are strictest
• Kitchens, where appliances, water and heat all meet
• Outdoor sockets and lighting, garages, sheds, lofts
• Any visible cable runs — damaged, unclipped, or run where they shouldn't be

A note on sampling

An EICR doesn't necessarily open every accessory in the building. On a larger installation the electrician may inspect a sample and extend it if they find problems. What they did and didn't do is written in the "extent and limitations" section, and it's worth reading: a satisfactory report with "loft not accessed, outbuilding not inspected" is saying less than it seems.

Reading the report

Every defect gets one of four codes.

Any C1, C2 or FI makes the whole report unsatisfactory. C3s on their own don't — a report can be covered in them and still be satisfactory, because the wiring rules change over time and an installation built to an older edition isn't unsafe just because it's older.

Where landlords get caught out

Treating C3 as noise. It's not a legal requirement, but a C3 on one report is often the C2 on the next. If you're doing other electrical work anyway, it's usually the cheapest moment to clear them.

Accepting every code at face value. Coding involves judgement, and electricians genuinely disagree on some items — how a missing RCD should be coded, for instance, depends on the circuit and what it supplies. There are also firms that over-code to sell the remedial work. If a report comes back with a long list of C2s and a quote attached, you're entitled to ask why each item is coded the way it is, and to get the remedial work quoted by someone else. A good electrician will explain the reasoning without hesitation.

Missing the "next inspection" date. It's on the report. It overrides the five years if it's shorter.

Losing the report. You need it for tenants, for the council, and for the next inspector. Keep it where you keep the gas safety record.

What an EICR doesn't cover

• Appliances. The EICR covers fixed wiring, not the kettle. In England and Wales there's no legal requirement to test appliances you supply, though it's widely recommended. In Scotland, testing of landlord-supplied appliances is part of the requirement.
• Gas. That's the annual gas safety check — a separate document, a separate engineer, a separate clock.
• Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Their own regulations, checked on the first day of each new tenancy.
• The five years in between. Which is where most of the actual risk lives.

Between inspections: what a landlord can see

You can't — and shouldn't — test an electrical installation yourself. But a routine visit catches a surprising amount of what turns into a C2, if you know what to look at. None of this involves removing a cover:

• Scorch marks or discolouration on sockets, switches or plugs
• Warm plugs or faceplates, a buzzing sound, a burning smell
• Cracked or loose faceplates, sockets pulling away from the wall
• Extension leads daisy-chained or permanently in use — a sign there aren't enough sockets where they're needed
• Cables run under carpets, trapped in doors, or pinned under furniture
• Water near electrics — a leak above a light fitting, damp around a socket, a kitchen socket right next to the sink
• The consumer unit — cover intact, nothing stored against it, no new additions you didn't authorise
• DIY changes — a new light fitting, an outdoor socket, a shed with a cable run to it
• The RCD test button — most manufacturers recommend pressing it periodically; ask the tenant whether it trips when pressed and whether they've had unexplained trips

Anything on that list goes to an electrician, with a photo and a date. That record is also your evidence that you acted when you found something — which is exactly what a council wants to see if a tenant later complains.

Keeping that record without the paperwork

This is where the gap usually is. A landlord's routine visit is twenty minutes in somebody else's home, and nobody wants to stand in the tenant's kitchen typing on a phone. So the notes get written in the car afterwards, and "slight scorch mark on the socket behind the kettle, front left" becomes "kitchen — fine".

Speak while you walk, and the document the law or the client wants writes itself. Photograph the socket, say what you see, and the visit report exists with a timestamp and a location before you've left the building.

Choosing an electrician

The regulations require a "qualified and competent" person. In practice, the simplest check is that they're registered with a competent person scheme — NICEIC, NAPIT and ELECSA are the names you'll see most — and that their registration covers inspection and testing, not just installation. Every scheme has a public register you can search by name or postcode.

When you're comparing quotes:

• Ask what's included — the whole property, outbuildings, communal areas if you're responsible for them
• Be wary of a very cheap EICR bundled with a remedial works offer — the inspection is sometimes the loss-leader
• Ask how long it'll take. A full EICR on a three-bedroom house in forty-five minutes is not a full EICR.
• Ask for the schedule of test results, not just the summary page. A report without it isn't complete.

Related

• Rental property inspection checklist — the room-by-room walk this sits inside
• Landlord inspection form — for the routine visit between EICRs
• Electrical inspection report — a general electrical condition walk, not a certificate
• Electrical safety checklist — the non-invasive checks for a workplace or premises

Frequently asked questions

What is an EICR? An Electrical Installation Condition Report: the document a qualified electrician produces after inspecting and testing a property's fixed electrical installation. It codes each defect by severity and gives an overall verdict of satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

How often does a landlord need an EICR? At least every five years, in every UK nation, for private rented homes — and in England, social rented homes too. If the report recommends an earlier re-inspection, that shorter date applies.

How long is an EICR valid for? Until the next inspection date written on it, which is at most five years for a rented property. It is not automatically five years; the electrician can set a shorter interval.

What does "unsatisfactory" mean on an EICR? The report contains at least one C1 (danger present), C2 (potentially dangerous) or FI (further investigation required). The landlord must have the work or investigation done within 28 days, or sooner if the report specifies, and then give written confirmation to the tenant and the council.

Do I have to fix C3 items? No. C3 means improvement recommended — the installation doesn't meet the current edition of the wiring rules, but isn't dangerous. It's not a legal requirement, though C3s are often cheapest to clear while other work is being done.

Can a landlord do their own EICR? Not unless they are themselves a qualified and competent electrician. The inspection needs specialist test equipment and the judgement to code what it finds. A landlord's own routine visit is still worthwhile — for spotting damage and changes between inspections — but it isn't an EICR.

Does an EICR include PAT testing? No. An EICR covers the fixed installation. Appliance testing is separate, not legally required for landlords in England and Wales, and required in Scotland for appliances the landlord supplies.

What's the fine for not having an EICR? In England, a civil penalty of up to £40,000 per breach, imposed by the local council, following the Renters' Rights Act 2025. Councils can also carry out required work themselves and recover the cost.