What is an EICR and do I need one?

If you’ve been told you need an EICR and you’re sat there wondering what on earth that is, you’re not alone. We get this question almost every week at Dawsons Electrical. Sometimes it’s a landlord in Northampton who’s just had a letter from their letting agent. Other times it’s a homeowner in Milton Keynes who’s selling up and the buyer’s solicitor has asked for one. Either way, it’s worth knowing what you’re actually agreeing to before you book it.

So let’s go through it properly.

So, what actually is an EICR?

EICR stands for Electrical Installation Condition Report. It’s a document, basically. A qualified electrician comes round, has a proper look at the fixed wiring in your property, and writes up what they find. The fixed wiring is everything behind the walls and in the consumer unit. It’s not your kettle or your telly, it’s the stuff that doesn’t move.

The point of an EICR is to flag anything that could be dangerous now, or might become dangerous soon. Bad earthing, dodgy circuits, a tired old fuseboard that should have been swapped out years ago. That sort of thing. The report tells you what’s working as it should, what needs sorting, and what’s already a problem.

It’s not a brand new bit of paperwork either. Periodic inspections of this kind have been around for decades. What changed is that the rules around them got tighter, especially for rental properties.

Do you need an EICR, or are we just being told we do?

Honest answer, it depends on who you are.

If you’re a landlord in England with privately rented residential property, yes. You need one. Since June 2020 the law has required landlords to get an Electrical Installation Condition Report done every five years, or sooner if the previous report says so. You also need to give a copy to your tenants within 28 days, and to your local authority if they ask for it. That bit catches a lot of people out. There’s more detail on our landlord safety certificate page if you’re juggling a few properties at once.

If you’re a homeowner, technically no, it’s not a legal requirement. But there are still good reasons to have one. Older houses with original wiring from the 70s and 80s often have problems that nobody notices until something trips, or worse. We’ve seen consumer units in Bedford that should have been replaced a decade ago, still running. The owners had no idea.

If you’re selling, an EICR isn’t mandatory but it can smooth things along. Solicitors are asking for them more often, and buyers like the reassurance. It’s one less thing for the chain to argue about.

If you’re a business owner, your insurance may well require one. The frequency depends on what the building is used for. A busy commercial unit might need a report every five years, an industrial site potentially more often. Our commercial electrical team handles a fair number of these across the region.

What we actually check during an EICR

People sometimes assume we’ll just open the consumer unit, scribble something down and leave. We don’t. A proper inspection involves both visual checks and live testing of the circuits.

We look at the condition of the wiring, the state of socket outlets, light fittings, switches, and the consumer unit itself. We test earthing and bonding because if those aren’t right, the rest doesn’t matter much. We check that residual current devices, the RCDs, trip when they should. We also look for signs of overheating, water damage, DIY work that hasn’t gone to plan, and anything that doesn’t meet BS 7671, which is the British Standard for the wiring regs.

Every finding gets a code. C1 means danger present, get it sorted now. C2 means potentially dangerous, sort it soon. C3 means it could be improved but it isn’t unsafe. FI means further investigation needed. A report only passes if there’s nothing coded C1, C2 or FI.

How long it takes, and what it costs

A typical three bedroom house in Northampton or Milton Keynes takes around two to four hours for the inspection itself. A larger property, or one with lots of circuits, can take a full day. Commercial premises vary wildly.

Cost wise, you’ll see prices online ranging from about £100 to over £400. The cheap end usually means a rushed job, or remedial work being quoted on top later. We’d rather price it properly the first time, and tell you what we find, rather than start cheap and add to the bill after.

What happens if your report doesn’t pass

This is the bit that worries people, but it shouldn’t. A failed report doesn’t mean your house is about to burn down. It means something has been identified that needs attention. Usually the fixes are smaller than people expect. A consumer unit upgrade, a couple of new RCDs, replacement of a damaged cable run. Once the work is done, the report is re-issued as satisfactory.

For landlords, this matters a bit more. You’ve got 28 days from the date of the report to get the remedial work completed, and to share confirmation with your tenants. Miss that window and you can end up in conversation with the council, which is a headache nobody needs.

One thing most people don’t realise

An EICR result isn’t a guarantee. It’s a snapshot of how the installation looks on the day we tested it. Things change. Damp gets into places it shouldn’t, kids stick things in sockets, previous owners did their own kitchen rewire on a Sunday afternoon and never told anyone. That’s part of why the five year cycle exists, and why we’d suggest a fresh inspection any time a property changes hands or has major work done. A new kitchen, a loft conversion, a new EV charger installed, they all add load and complexity to the existing setup.

Need an EICR sorting in your area?

We’ve been doing this for years across Milton Keynes, Bedford and Northampton, and we’re NICEIC approved which means our work is independently audited. If you’d like a quote, or just want to ask a few sensible questions before committing, get in touch through the Dawsons Electrical contact page or have a look at our EICR service page. We’re happy to talk it through, no pressure either way.

And if you’re a landlord with a few properties on the books, do mention it when you call. We can usually work out a sensible schedule across the lot, which saves you chasing dates and us turning up twice.