EICR Certificates in Colindale

EICR Certificates in Colindale: what is different here

When the new-build certificate stops covering you

Government guidance says a newly built or completely rewired home should have an Electrical Installation Certificate, and that the landlord does not need a further check or report for five years after it was issued. Colindale has been built in phases for twenty years, so blocks on the same road can be at very different points. A flat in the final Beaufort Park phase, occupied from 2024, may be covered until 2029; one from an earlier phase may already need its first EICR.

Colindale Gardens, still being built in phases, has the same spread of dates. The date that counts is the date on the certificate, not the date you bought the flat. Buyers of new and resale flats often never receive the EIC. Ask your conveyancer, the developer's customer care team or the managing agent for it. If nobody can produce it, book an EICR before the next tenancy starts, because you cannot show compliance without one or the other.

Your flat's circuits, the freeholder's risers

The 2020 regulations cover the installation in the rented flat: its wiring, sockets, light fittings and consumer unit. The guidance states that they do not apply to communal areas such as stairwells, corridors and other shared spaces. In a Colindale block, corridor lighting, the lifts, the door entry system, the car park and the communal fire alarm run from a landlord supply that the freeholder or managing agent maintains under its own arrangements.

That split matters when booking. In many new blocks the flat's meter and main isolator sit in a cupboard on the landing or in a meter room on the ground floor, behind a lock the managing agent controls. Tell us where yours is, and ask the agent or concierge to give us access on the day, because we have to isolate the supply to test parts of the installation.

What turns up in flats built since 2005

Wiring age is rarely the issue in a Colindale flat. What we find instead is what has been added since handover: extra sockets, wall-mounted TV points with cables chased into plasterboard, under-cabinet kitchen lights and replacement light fittings, often with no certificate for the work. Balcony lights and sockets take the weather and are a common source of nuisance tripping. Bathrooms in some blocks have more electrical equipment than the occupier realises. The installer's case study for Beaufort Park describes electric underfloor heating, heated wall panels and heated mirrors in apartment bathrooms.

Each is on a circuit that gets tested, and we record their protection. The supply to a heat interface unit is also part of the flat's installation, even though the unit itself belongs to the heat supplier. Under Amendment 4 to BS 7671, a further investigation code on its own no longer makes the overall result unsatisfactory. If the report says investigation is needed, the 2020 regulations still give you 28 days to have it done.

Grahame Park's older homes are a different inspection

Not every Colindale rental is new. Grahame Park's first residents moved in during 1971, and some of the original flats and houses that remain are privately owned and let. Their installations range from 1970s wiring that has been extended over the years to complete rewires. Older consumer units without residual current protection, mixed generations of cable and DIY additions are the items most likely to be coded.

The regeneration is replacing the estate in stages, and some owners are reluctant to spend on a home that may be bought back. The duty still applies while the flat is let: an unsatisfactory report means remedial work within 28 days, or sooner if the report says so, and written confirmation to the tenant and the council.

Barnet licensing and the £40,000 ceiling

Barnet's HMO licence conditions require every electrical installation in the house to be in proper working order and safe, and a current report for the fixed installation, less than five years old, sent to the council within 14 days of a request. The same conditions ask for a fire alarm system to BS 5839-6:2019, with a commissioning or inspection report from a competent electrician or alarm engineer. We test the flat's interlinked alarms during the EICR visit and note them, although an alarm certificate is a separate document.

Since 1 November 2025 the maximum civil penalty for breaching the electrical safety regulations has been £40,000. The NRLA also reported a Barnet consultation on selective licensing for ten wards, including Colindale North and Colindale South. We found no published decision as of October 2026; if a scheme is adopted, a single-household flat in Colindale would need a licence, and a current EICR would be part of that application.

Booking the inspection in a managed block

Testing means switching circuits off for periods during the visit, so warn the tenant about the fridge, the internet router and anything that needs resetting. Most Colindale blocks need a contractor booked in with the concierge, and many restrict working hours. Parking near Colindale Avenue falls in the Colindale South controlled zone on weekdays, from 8am to 6.30pm, so tell us about visitor bays.

The report arrives within 48 hours. If anything is coded C1 or C2, we give you a fixed price for the remedial work, and after it is done you receive written confirmation to pass to the tenant.

Official sources

• GOV.UK electrical safety guidance
• ESS Regulations 2020, reg 3
• Barnet licence conditions, July 2022 (archived)
• Warmup case study, Beaufort Park
• Beaufort Park on Buildington
• Construction Enquirer, May 2021: Colindale Gardens phase
• Grahame Park history (Wikipedia)
• NRLA licensing update, September 2026
• Barnet Post on the Colindale South CPZ

Last reviewed October 2026 by EliteShires Property Services.