EICR Certificates in Hendon

EICR Certificates in Hendon: what is different here

Converted houses: the flat, the landlord supply and the meters

At the 2021 Census, 13.3% of households in both Hendon and West Hendon wards lived in a house converted into flats or rooms, compared with 8.8% across Barnet. In those buildings each flat normally has its own meter and consumer unit, often all gathered under the stairs or in a front cupboard, and a separate landlord supply runs the hall lights, the fire alarm and sometimes an entry phone.

The EICR for a let flat covers that flat's installation from its own meter tails onwards. The landlord supply is a separate installation belonging to whoever controls the common parts, usually the freeholder, and it needs its own report. We label which circuits we tested so a managing agent cannot later argue the hallway was covered.

Barnet HMO conditions add a fire alarm report and a 14-day clock

Barnet's standard HMO licence conditions require the fire alarm system in a licensed house to follow BS 5839-6:2019, having regard to the LACORS fire safety guide, and the council can ask for a commissioning or inspection and servicing report from a competent electrician or fire alarm engineer. The same conditions say the fixed wiring report must be under five years old when submitted and handed over within 14 days of a written request.

The national regulations give a shorter deadline, seven days, when a council asks for the EICR itself, so keep the PDF where you can send it the same day. Breaching those national rules can bring a civil penalty of up to £40,000. For a student house near Middlesex University, we can test the wiring and inspect the interlinked alarm system at one visit and issue the two documents separately.

What we tend to find in Hendon's older wiring

Hendon's housing runs from Georgian and Victorian terraces on The Burroughs and the older houses around Church End, through houses built after the 1868 station opened, to the semis that filled the south of the parish by 1935, the roads laid out around Hendon Central from 1923 and the post-war blocks east of Brent Street. Wiring in most of them has been replaced at least once, but conversions often left traces: a cooker circuit that still feeds from the original board in another flat, a bathroom extractor spurred from a lighting circuit without RCD cover, or rubber-insulated cable surviving in a loft run. In houses split into rooms, extension leads feeding bedroom kettles and heaters point to too few sockets, which the report records as an observation and which is worth fixing before a council inspection.

West Hendon tower flats and new blocks

Hendon Waterside replaced the 1960s West Hendon estate beside the Welsh Harp, and Vital Energi describes the finished scheme as over 2,000 homes in 23 blocks of three to 23 storeys. A flat there is usually only a few years old and comes with an Electrical Installation Certificate from the builder. That certificate can stand in for a first EICR if it is less than five years old, and the next inspection is then due five years from its date.

The flat EICR stops at the flat's consumer unit and its outgoing circuits. Rising mains, landlord distribution boards and lifts belong to the building's management and are tested under their own regime.

Access and tenants in shared Hendon lets

Testing needs every circuit off at some point, so in a shared house the tenants lose power for part of the visit, and each bedroom has to be opened to test its sockets and lights. Give tenants the notice their agreement requires, warn them that routers and fridges will go off briefly, and arrange keys for any room whose occupant will be out. Parking in Barnet's controlled zones around Hendon station and West Hendon takes planning too, and a visitor permit lets the electrician carry test equipment in without a long walk.

Official sources

• Five-yearly inspection, 28-day remedials and seven-day council request (ESS Regs 2020, reg 3)
• Barnet HMO licence conditions: BS 5839-6 alarms, wiring report under five years, 14 days
• Census 2021 converted-house share for Hendon and West Hendon wards
• West Hendon Waterside: over 2,000 homes in 23 blocks
• Hendon's growth after the 1868 station, Victoria County History
• Barnet's proposed ten-ward selective scheme, NRLA, September 2026
• The £40,000 maximum penalty, GOV.UK guidance

Last reviewed October 2026 by EliteShires Property Services.