EICR & Electrical Safety Certificates across North West London

What does the law require?

The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, amended in 2025 to cover social housing as well, require the fixed electrical installation in a rented property to be inspected and tested at least every five years by a qualified and competent person. The requirement applied to new tenancies from July 2020 and to all existing tenancies from April 2021. You must give a copy of the report to existing tenants within 28 days of the inspection, to a new tenant before they occupy, to a prospective tenant within 28 days of them asking, and to the local authority within seven days if it asks. A few arrangements are outside the rules, including lodgers who share with the landlord and leases of seven years or more.

What do C1, C2, C3 and FI mean?

This is where landlords are most often misled. A C1 means danger is present and there is a risk of injury. That needs making safe immediately. A C2 means potentially dangerous. An FI means further investigation is advised. Any C1 or C2 makes the report unsatisfactory, and remedial work has to be completed within 28 days or sooner if the report specifies. Under BS 7671 Amendment 4, an FI code on its own no longer makes the overall result unsatisfactory; if the report says further investigation is required, the 2020 regulations still give you 28 days. A C3, by contrast, is only an improvement recommendation. It does not make the installation unsatisfactory and it does not require work. If an inspector tells you a report full of C3s means you need a rewire, get a second opinion.

What does an EICR inspect?

The consumer unit and its protective devices, the earthing and bonding arrangements, the condition of the fixed wiring, socket outlets, switches, lighting points and any fixed appliances, plus dead and live testing of the circuits: continuity, insulation resistance, polarity, earth fault loop impedance and RCD operation. The result is a report with observations, codes and a clear satisfactory or unsatisfactory conclusion.

Remedial work, priced before it starts

If work is needed you get a written quote against the specific coded observations before anything is done, and you are free to have someone else carry it out. We would rather quote a job and lose it than produce a report designed to generate one. Where a C1 is found we will make the installation safe on the day, because leaving a known danger in place is not an option, and we will tell you what that involves before we do it.

When is the next EICR due?

Five years from the last inspection, or sooner if the report sets a shorter interval. We diary the renewal date and remind you before it expires, because letting a property without a current inspection is a breach the local authority can penalise directly. If you hold several properties we will put them on a single schedule so the certificates do not all fall due in the same month.

More in our guide to how long an EICR lasts.

Who is this for?

Private landlords, letting and managing agents, and homeowners who want the installation checked before buying, selling or renovating.

Which mistakes do we see most often?

By far the most common is accepting that a report full of C3 codes requires work. It does not. C3 is an improvement recommendation and does not make an installation unsatisfactory. The second is choosing the cheapest inspection available, which frequently produces the longest list of coded observations and a quote to match. The third is leaving remedial work until day twenty-seven of the twenty-eight, then discovering the parts are not in stock.

Why people trust us

• Inspection and testing by registered electricians, with every observation coded and explained
• A walk-in office on Kenton Lane, not a serviced address
• Anything immediately dangerous made safe on the day
• A time slot rather than a morning-or-afternoon window
• Work photographed before and after, and reported
• We tell you when you do not need something we sell

We are building a review profile under this name and would rather show you none than borrow someone else's. Ask us for references from landlords and we will put you in touch.