EICR explained: a landlord's electrical safety duties
Electrical faults cause a large share of accidental house fires, which is why the rules tightened in 2020. If you let property in England, you must have the fixed wiring inspected on a fixed cycle and act on what the report finds. The document that proves it is the EICR — the Electrical Installation Condition Report.
- Five-year cycle — under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, landlords must have the fixed electrical installation inspected and tested at least every five years, or sooner if the report says so.
- Act on the codes — anything flagged C1 (danger present) or C2 (potentially dangerous), or marked FI (further investigation), must be remedied within 28 days, or sooner if specified.
- Share the report — give it to tenants within 28 days, to new tenants before they move in, and to the council within 7 days on request.
- The penalty is real — local authorities can fine up to £30,000 for non-compliance.
What an EICR actually is
An EICR is a periodic inspection of the fixed electrical installation — the wiring, consumer unit (fuse board), sockets, switches and accessories — carried out against BS 7671, the IET Wiring Regulations. It's not the same as PAT (portable appliance testing), which covers plug-in equipment. The inspection is done by a qualified and competent person and ends in a report that either certifies the installation as satisfactory or lists what's wrong.
The five-year rule and who it covers
The 2020 Regulations came into force on 1 June 2020. They applied to new tenancies from 1 July 2020 and to all existing tenancies from 1 April 2021. Since then, every private rented home in England must have:
- a satisfactory EICR no older than five years (unless the report specifies a shorter interval), and
- remedial work completed and confirmed within the deadline.
Scotland (every five years under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006) and Wales (under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act) have their own parallel regimes. Workplaces and the common parts of buildings fall under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, which set a duty to maintain but no fixed interval — five years is the widely adopted norm.
The codes you cannot ignore
The whole point of the report is the classification codes:
- C1 — Danger present. Risk of injury. Immediate action required.
- C2 — Potentially dangerous. Urgent remedial work needed.
- FI — Further investigation required.
- C3 — Improvement recommended. Not a failure, but worth doing.
A report with any C1, C2 or FI is unsatisfactory. You have 28 days (or less if the report states it) to carry out the remedial work and obtain written confirmation that the installation is now safe — then supply that to your tenant and, if they've asked, the council.
What happens if you don't
The local authority enforces. They can demand the report, arrange remedial work themselves and recover the cost, and impose a financial penalty of up to £30,000 per breach. Repeated breaches stack.
Where it fits
EICR is one regime among many — it sits beside fire risk assessments, gas safety and legionella. See the complete UK property compliance guide for the full map.
The thing that catches people out isn't the inspection — it's the five-year clock running silently in the background across a portfolio, plus the 28-day remedial deadlines on top. Proprietas reads the expiry and any specified re-test date straight off the certificate, tracks it per property, and warns you before it lapses. Try it on a real EICR and watch the dates pull out automatically.
This is a plain-English overview, not legal advice — your specific duties depend on your properties and where they are.
Estates, but on autopilot.
Drop in a certificate and Proprietas reads the dates, files it to the right property, and tracks every statutory deadline — so nothing slips and you're never the one exposed.