What is an EICR? Electrical safety reports explained

An EICR, or Electrical Installation Condition Report, is an electrician's report on the wiring a home already has: the consumer unit, circuits, sockets, switches and lights. Landlords across the UK need one at least every 5 years, and owner-occupiers are advised to get one every 10. We cover what the inspection checks, what the C1, C2, C3 and FI codes mean, how often you need one and each nation's landlord rules.

What an EICR is

An EICR is the report an electrician writes after inspecting and testing a home's existing electrical installation. The job itself is called periodic inspection and testing, and it measures the installation against BS 7671, the UK wiring standard.

It covers the fixed wiring and everything wired into it: the consumer unit, the circuits, and the sockets, switches and light fittings, including cable hidden in walls and under floors. Appliances you plug in are not part of it.

The report is not a pass certificate. It records the installation as satisfactory or unsatisfactory, lists every fault found with a code, and sets the date for the next inspection.

What an electrician checks during an EICR

The electrician starts with a visual inspection of the consumer unit, cables and fittings, looking for cracks, breaks and signs of overheating, then tests the circuits with instruments. The inspection covers:

• Whether the earthing and bonding are adequate
• Whether the consumer unit, switchgear and controlgear are suitable
• The condition of switches, sockets and light fittings
• The type and condition of the wiring itself
• RCD protection on sockets that could power equipment outdoors
• Labels, identification and warning notices
• Wear, damage and deterioration, and anything made unsafe by how the installation has been used

EICR codes: C1, C2, C3 and FI

Every fault on the report gets one of 4 codes. One C1, C2 or FI is enough to make the whole report unsatisfactory, while C3s on their own leave it satisfactory.

A landlord has a legal deadline for C1, C2 and FI items. An owner-occupier does not, but a C1 means danger now, so it gets fixed or made safe before anything else. A C3 marks something short of the current standard without being dangerous: worth pricing, never a fail.

How often you need an EICR

The interval depends on who lives in the property and what the installation serves. Electrical Safety First recommends these maximum gaps between inspections:

Two other moments call for an inspection whatever the date: when a property is being prepared for letting, and before you sell a home or buy one that has been lived in.

The date that decides it is the one on your own report. The electrician can set a shorter gap for an older or heavily used installation, and in Wales the rules make a landlord follow it.

How long an EICR is valid

An EICR is valid until the next-inspection date written on it: at most 5 years for a rented home, and up to 10 for an owner-occupied one. New wiring resets the clock. In England a landlord with a new Electrical Installation Certificate needs no further inspection for 5 years after it was issued, and in Scotland an EIC under 5 years old stands in for an EICR while its next-inspection date has not passed.

EICR rules for landlords in England

In England the duty comes from the 2020 electrical safety standards regulations, which an amendment extended to social housing in 2025. Social tenancies granted from 1 December 2025 were covered straight away. Older social tenancies came in on 1 May 2026, and their inspections have to be done by 1 November 2026.

For every rented home in scope, the landlord has to:

• Have the installation inspected and tested by a qualified, competent person at least every 5 years
• Give existing tenants the report within 28 days of the inspection, and new tenants before they move in
• Send it to a prospective tenant within 28 days of a request, and to the council within 7 days of one
• Finish remedial work or further investigation within 28 days, or sooner if the report says so
• Confirm in writing to the tenant and the council, within 28 days of finishing, that the work is done
• Keep the report until the next inspection is due or has been carried out

Some lets fall outside the rules, including lodgers living with the landlord's household, leases of 7 years or more, student halls, hostels, refuges, care homes, hospitals and mobile homes.

EICR rules for landlords in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

All four nations work to a 5-year maximum. What differs is who is covered, how fast the tenant gets the report and what else the landlord has to test.

Wales

Wales ties the EICR to whether the home is fit to live in. Under the Welsh fitness for human habitation regulations, in force since 1 December 2022, the landlord has 14 days from the occupation date, and 14 days from each test, to give the contract-holder the report. Miss either deadline and the home counts as unfit for human habitation, whatever the report says. Written confirmation of remedial work is due within 14 days too.

Scotland

Scotland asks for 2 checks under its electrical safety guidance for private landlords: an EICR at intervals of no more than 5 years, and a portable appliance test on every appliance the landlord supplies, from the washing machine to the kettle. The tenant's own appliances are left out. A new tenant gets a copy of the latest EICR before the tenancy starts, and a C1 needs remedial work immediately.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, private landlords must have the installation inspected and tested by a qualified person at least every 5 years. They also have to keep the cooker, washing machine, immersion heater and any other appliance supplied with the tenancy safe.

Do homeowners need an EICR?

No law requires an owner-occupier to have an EICR. The recommendation is one every 10 years, and sooner if the house shows any of these signs:

• Burn marks on plugs or sockets
• Buzzing or crackling from a socket or switch
• Fuses that keep blowing, or circuit breakers that trip again and again
• Cables sheathed in rubber, lead or fabric, which means original old wiring

EICRs when buying or selling

You do not need an EICR to sell a property. Getting one anyway, before you list a home or before you buy one that has been lived in, turns a worry about old wiring into a list of coded faults both sides can price.

It pays before a renovation too. If the report comes back unsatisfactory, the repairs go in while the floors are up, before anything is plastered, tiled or decorated.

EICR or electrical safety certificate: which document is which

Landlords and letting agents often call an EICR an electrical safety certificate, but it certifies nothing. It reports on wiring that already exists, and it covers electrics only: gas appliances have their own check and their own record, the gas safety certificate. New work comes with different paperwork.

In England, notifiable work by a registered electrician comes with a building regulations certificate as well as the EIC, and that certificate shows up in a buyer's solicitor's searches.

What happens after an unsatisfactory EICR

An unsatisfactory report lists what has to change. Get the remedial work quoted against those items, have it done, and keep written confirmation of each fix. For a landlord in England or Wales that confirmation is a legal duty, with its own deadline.

Most unsatisfactory reports end in one of a handful of jobs. Where the cables are sound, the fix can be as small as extra earthing or bonding, or a new consumer unit. Where the inspection finds rubber, lead or fabric cable throughout, the answer is a full rewire, at £4,500 to £8,000 for a 3-bed house.

EICR cost and how long it takes

The number of circuits and the type of property set what an EICR costs, and the usual range is £100 to £300. A small flat costs less to inspect than a large house with a garage and a garden supply.

Time on site depends on the same two things. Ask for an estimate of the hours when you book, and plan for the power being off for parts of the visit.

Booking an electrician for an EICR

The rules ask for a qualified person competent to inspect and test, and a registered electrician who does periodic inspection and testing is the usual choice. Scotland spells it out: a member of SELECT, NICEIC or NAPIT, or an electrician who meets its checklist, including assessed training on the current BS 7671 within the past 5 years, insurance and calibrated test equipment.

Welsh landlords work to a tighter deadline. After booking an EICR in Cardiff or Swansea, the landlord has 14 days from the test to get the report to the tenant, half the 28 days allowed in England.