Electrical safety reports: when is an EICR required?

Check the report’s conclusion and next inspection date, rather than the age of the house.

The answer in 2 lines. In England, landlords of homes covered by the electrical safety regulations must arrange inspection and testing by a qualified person at least every five years, or sooner where required. They must obtain a report, usually an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR), and deal with required repairs or investigation. The rules now cover the social rented sector as well as private renting, subject to exceptions. Selling an owner-occupied home does not generally require an EICR, although a buyer can request one. An EICR involves testing; it is more than a visual checklist.

The first 3 steps

Find the paperwork: look for the complete EICR, its overall assessment, inspection date and recommended next inspection date. Keep evidence of subsequent remedial work with it.
Check which rules apply: use the sections on covered homes and electrical installations in the GOV.UK rental guidance.
Book the right inspection: ask a qualified electrician specifically for periodic inspection and testing with an EICR. Explain whether the property is rented, occupied or being purchased.

Stop: danger

Exposed live parts, burning or shocks: stop using the affected equipment and arrange urgent professional help. Do not wait for a routine inspection appointment.
Danger recorded in a report: follow the inspector’s immediate safety instructions. A future repair deadline is not permission to continue using a dangerous circuit.

Renting, selling and living in your own home

Covered rented homes: inspection is a landlord responsibility. A new tenant must receive the report before occupation; existing tenants must receive it within 28 days of inspection.
Social housing: the extension is already relevant on this guide’s publication date. For social tenancies that already existed when the rules were extended, check the transitional deadlines in the government guidance; ask your landlord for the report if you have not received one.
Selling: an EICR is not generally a compulsory sale document. However, missing electrical paperwork can prompt a buyer to request investigation.
Owner occupation: regular inspection remains sensible. A report describes the condition found during inspection; it is not a promise that no fault can develop afterwards.

For the distinction between sale requirements and safety recommendations, open the periodic-inspection and selling questions in Electrical Safety First’s consumer FAQs. Use current government guidance for rental law.

What the electrician actually checks

The inspection assesses the fixed installation, including wiring, protective devices, earthing and bonding. It includes electrical tests as well as examination of accessible equipment. It does not automatically certify every plug-in appliance.

Read Electrical Safety First’s inspection explanation before requesting quotations. Use its checklist to ask what access, interruptions and limitations the proposed inspection involves. Clear access to the consumer unit and tell the electrician about inaccessible rooms, previous alterations and recurring faults.

What not to do

Treating an installation certificate for a small alteration as a condition report covering the whole property.
Accepting only a page saying ‘satisfactory’ without the report’s schedules, observations and limitations.
Assuming an old installation needs complete rewiring solely because of its age. Ask for the findings and proposed remedy.

Read the findings before commissioning repairs

On an EICR, C1 means danger is present, C2 means potentially dangerous, and FI calls for further investigation without delay. C3 identifies an improvement recommendation. Ask the inspector to explain every observation in plain English, including which circuit or fitting it concerns.

For covered rentals, required investigation or remedial work must be completed within 28 days, or sooner if the report specifies. Retain written confirmation with the original report. A C3 recommendation alone does not make the overall assessment unsatisfactory.

Finding help and resolving missing paperwork

Use Electrical Safety First’s electrician finder: select England and search locally. Confirm directly that the electrician is competent in periodic inspection and reporting, rather than assuming installation registration covers every service.

Tenants should request missing reports or repairs in writing. If a landlord does not address the issue, use GOV.UK’s council finder, enter the property postcode and ask the council’s housing team about electrical safety enforcement. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have different housing rules; this guide describes England.

Good to know

The five-year rental interval and 28-day requirements are confirmed in government guidance published in 2025 and checked for this November 2026 guide.
Some arrangements are excluded, including certain resident-landlord arrangements and long leases. Check the covered-homes section before assuming the rental regulations apply.
An EICR records condition. Installation certificates and Building Regulations compliance documents serve different purposes; keep them together.

Illustrative example: before letting a flat in Bristol, Sam finds an unsatisfactory EICR with a potentially dangerous defect. He asks the inspector to explain the finding, commissions the required repair and keeps written completion evidence with the report. He provides the documents before the new tenant moves in.

A made-up story, for illustration.

Bobby

Sources, verification, confidence

Verified on 4 November 2026, for England. Confidence: high for rental inspection duties, reporting deadlines and the social-housing transition; high for the general distinction between an EICR and sale paperwork. Individual exclusions and inspection findings require case-specific checks.