EICR certificates for London landlords: the complete guide

If you let residential property in England, an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) is not optional. It is a legal requirement with fixed deadlines, and the fines for getting it wrong are serious. Yet we still meet London landlords every week who are unsure what the rules actually say, or who have a report sitting in a drawer with remedial work that was never done.

This guide covers the legal duty, the deadlines, what the codes on the report mean, what it costs in London, and what tends to fail in the older housing stock that makes up so much of the capital's rental market. We carry out EICRs across Greater London, and this is the same explanation we give landlords in person.

The legal duty in plain terms

The rules come from the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020. They apply to almost all private tenancies in England, and they require the electrical installation in the property to be inspected and tested by a qualified person at least every five years, or more often if the previous report says so.

The report itself is the EICR. It covers the fixed installation: the consumer unit, the wiring, the sockets, the light fittings and the earthing. It does not cover the tenant's appliances, and it is not the same thing as PAT testing.

The regulations set out exactly what you must do with the report once you have it, and this is where landlords most often slip up. The deadlines are specific and they are enforced by the local authority, not by anyone you can negotiate with.

• Have a valid EICR at all times, renewed at least every five years.
• Give a copy to existing tenants within 28 days of the inspection.
• Give a copy to new tenants before they occupy the property.
• Supply a copy to the local authority within 7 days if they request it.
• Complete any remedial work within 28 days, or sooner if the report specifies a shorter period.
• Obtain written confirmation from the electrician that the remedial work is done, and pass that confirmation to the tenants and the local authority within 28 days of the work being completed.

What happens if you do not comply

Local authorities can issue financial penalties of up to £30,000 per breach. That is per breach, not per property, so a landlord who has no valid report and has also failed to carry out remedial work can be penalised for both. Councils in London have been noticeably more active on enforcement in recent years, particularly where a tenant complaint brings the property to their attention.

Beyond the fine, an out of date or missing EICR weakens your position badly if anything goes wrong in the property, and many insurers and mortgage lenders now expect to see one. It is a small, fixed cost against a large, open ended risk.

C1, C2, C3 and FI: what the codes actually mean

Every observation on an EICR carries a classification code, and the codes decide whether the report is satisfactory or unsatisfactory. They are simpler than they look.

C1 means danger present. Something is an immediate risk, such as exposed live parts, and the inspector will make it safe on the spot or isolate it. C2 means potentially dangerous. It is not hurting anyone today, but a foreseeable event, such as a fault occurring, would make it dangerous. A missing earth on a circuit is a classic C2. FI means further investigation required, where the inspector found something that cannot be classified without more work, such as an unidentified circuit.

Any C1, C2 or FI makes the report unsatisfactory, and that triggers the 28 day remedial deadline. C3 means improvement recommended. It does not meet the current standard but is not dangerous, and a report with only C3 items is still satisfactory. You do not have to act on C3 items, though it is often cheap to do so while an electrician is already on site.

What it costs in London and how long it takes

Typical London pricing runs from £150 to £250 depending on the size of the property. A one bed flat sits at the bottom of that range and takes around two hours. A large house with ten or more circuits sits at the top and can take half a day. Anyone quoting significantly less is usually planning to spend less time testing, and the report is only worth the testing behind it.

The inspection involves turning the power off for parts of the test, so tenants should be warned in advance. We coordinate access with tenants or agents directly, which for most landlords is the part of the process they are happiest to hand over.

Why older East London rental stock fails

A large share of the rental property we test in East London is Victorian and Edwardian terraces converted into flats, and the same failures come up again and again. Old consumer units with no RCD protection are the most common C2 we record. Bonding to gas and water is often missing or undersized. Extensions and loft conversions frequently contain DIY additions, junction boxes hidden under floors and circuits extended far beyond what they were designed for.

None of this means an older property cannot pass. It means the first EICR on a property that has not been tested for years will often be unsatisfactory, and it is better to budget for some remedial work than to be surprised by it. Once the installation has been brought up to standard, subsequent inspections are usually straightforward.

Working with letting agents

If your property is managed, check whose job the EICR actually is. Most management agreements make the agent responsible for arranging it but leave the legal duty with you, and the fine lands on the landlord, not the agent. Ask your agent for the current report, check the date of the next inspection, and confirm that any remedial work listed was completed and documented with written confirmation.

For portfolios, it is worth aligning renewal dates where possible so inspections can be batched. It reduces cost per property and makes compliance far easier to track.

HMO considerations

Houses in multiple occupation are covered by the same 2020 regulations, but licensing adds another layer. London boroughs typically require a current satisfactory EICR as a condition of granting or renewing an HMO licence, and some ask for additional fire safety measures such as interlinked alarms and emergency lighting alongside it.

HMOs also work their installations harder. More occupants means more load, more portable heaters and more adaptors, so the fixed wiring needs to be genuinely sound rather than barely passing. If you run an HMO, treat the EICR as the starting point of your electrical safety obligations, not the whole of them.

The sensible way to handle it

Book the inspection before the current report expires, not after. Use an electrician who will talk you through the observations rather than just emailing a PDF, get a fixed quote for any remedial work with the codes it addresses listed, and keep the written confirmation of completed work with the report. Do that every five years and this particular legal duty stops being a worry.