EICR: the landlord electrical safety certificate, explained

What an EICR actually is

EICR stands for Electrical Installation Condition Report. It is not a certificate you buy: it is a written report on the fixed electrical installation, meaning the consumer unit, the circuits, the sockets, the switches and the wiring behind the walls. The inspector tests it and codes each problem by how serious it is.

The report comes back satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Government guidance is blunt: “If codes C1 or C2 are identified in the report, then remedial work will be required. The report will state the installation is unsatisfactory for continued use.” An unsatisfactory report is not a fine in itself. It is a 28-day clock starting.

The duty in England comes from the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector and Social Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/312, as amended). Regulation 3(1) requires a landlord to “ensure every electrical installation in the residential premises is inspected and tested at regular intervals by a qualified person”, and to do so “before the specified tenancy commences”. Regulation 3(2) sets that at “no more than 5 years”, or, where the report requires the next inspection by an earlier date, “no later than that date”. So if your inspector sets a three-year date, three years is your legal cycle.

The rules reached the social rented sector in 2025. Guidance states they “come into force for the social rented sector on 1 November 2025 and will apply to social housing tenancies granted after 1 December 2025”, with earlier social tenancies covered from 1 May 2026 and installations “inspected and tested by a qualified person before 1 November 2026”. Social landlords carry a second duty too: guidance says they “must also have the electrical equipment that they provide under the tenancy checked by a qualified person at least every 5 years”, with an In-service Inspection and Testing (ISIT) record for the tenant, and the council on request.

The duties in one list

Miss any of the inspection, reporting or remedial duties and you are in breach, even if the wiring itself is perfect.

• Get the installation “inspected and tested by a qualified person at least every 5 years”, and before a new tenancy commences.
• Obtain a report giving the results and “the date by which the next inspection and test is required”.
• “Supply a copy of the report to the existing tenant within 28 days of the inspection and test.”
• “Supply a copy of the report to a new tenant before they occupy the premises.” Not on move-in day. Before.
• “Supply the local council with a copy of the report within 7 days of receiving a request.”
• “Supply a copy of the report to any prospective tenant within 28 days of receiving a request.”
• Where the report requires further investigative or remedial work, get it done within “28 days”, or sooner if the report says so.
• Then, within 28 days of that work finishing, give your tenant and the local council the report plus written confirmation from the qualified person that the work is done and that either “the electrical safety standards are met” or “further investigative or remedial work is required”.
• Keep the report until the next inspection, and hand a copy to whoever carries that one out.

If your tenant will not let you in

There is a defence, and it covers the problem landlords hit most. Regulation 3(2A) says a landlord “is not to be taken to be in breach of a duty under paragraph (1) if the landlord can show they have taken all reasonable steps to comply with that duty”. Regulation 3(2B) adds that a landlord kept out by the tenant is not treated as having failed to take all reasonable steps “solely by reason of a failure to bring legal proceedings with a view to securing entry to the premises”, and regulation 3(6A) applies the same defence to the remedial duties in 3(4) and 3(6).

Showing it means keeping a record: every appointment offered, every letter and text, and every refused or missed visit, dated.

What the codes on an EICR mean

The deadlines landlords actually trip over

A new tenant's copy belongs in the pre-tenancy pack, not an email after the keys change hands. If an agent runs your check-in, confirm in writing who sends it.

The council's deadline is seven days from its request, not 28, so a report left in the electrician's filing system rather than yours is a real risk.

The remedial clock runs from the inspection, not from the day the report reaches you. Regulation 3(4) counts the 28 days, or less if the report specifies, “starting with the date of the inspection and testing”. If the report takes a week to arrive, a week has gone.

Guidance names what the written confirmation can be: “a satisfactory EICR, an Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC), a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate (MEIWC) or other appropriate electrical certification”. Agree which one you are getting before the electrician starts.

How to get one booked

Guidance defines a qualified person as “a person competent to undertake the inspection and testing”, and points landlords at the Registered Competent Person Electrical register and Electrical Safety First's find-an-electrician tool to check one. Ask for the scheme registration before you book, not after the work.

Then pin the quote down. It should say how many circuits and consumer units are being tested, whether remedial work is priced separately, and when the report lands. Ask for the PDF on the day: a council request gives you only seven days. If the property has been let for years without an inspection, expect C2 items, and remember your 28 days runs from the inspection date.

Which properties need one, and which do not

The regulations apply where the “tenant has a right to occupy the premises as their only or main residence and pays rent”. Most assured shorthold tenancies are in scope, and so are HMOs.

Excluded tenancies listed in the guidance include “shared accommodation with the landlord or the landlord's family”, “long leases... or tenancies that grant a right of occupation of 7 years or more”, “student halls of residence”, “hostels and refuges”, “care homes, hospitals and hospices” and “mobile homes, caravans and boats”. A lodger living with you is the usual exclusion for small landlords.

Those Regulations cover England. Wales runs a parallel duty under the Renting Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) (Wales) Regulations 2022: regulation 6 keeps a report valid for “the period of 5 years beginning with the day on which the electrical safety inspection is carried out”, unless it specifies an earlier date, and the contract-holder must get a copy “before the end of the period of 7 days starting with the occupation date”. Scotland and Northern Ireland set their own rules.

An EICR is not a CP12, and neither is a boiler service

Three separate duties on three separate cycles, and treating them as one job is how landlords miss the one they forgot. The EICR covers the fixed electrical installation and runs on a five-year cycle in England. The CP12, your landlord gas safety record, covers gas appliances and flues, runs annually, is carried out by a registered gas engineer, and comes from the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. Different law, different cycle, different tradesperson. Keep both renewal dates in one diary.

A boiler service is a third thing, and not a legal inspection at all. It is preventative maintenance, often a condition of the manufacturer's guarantee.

One safety point sits above all of it. If anyone at the property smells gas or suspects a leak, they should contact the National Gas Emergency Service immediately on 0800 111 999. That call comes before any certificate or repair booking.

• Read next: CP12 gas safety certificate, the landlord gas duty

What it costs you if you ignore it

Government guidance states that local councils may impose a “financial penalty of up to £40,000” on landlords in breach of the duties under the regulations.

The council can also do the work itself: “Should a landlord fail to comply with the notice, the local council may arrange for remedial action to be taken themselves. The local council can recover the costs of taking the action from the landlord.” So doing nothing can mean paying for work you did not choose, on top of the penalty.

Where a cover plan fits around the inspection

Be clear on the division. The EICR is a legal inspection you book and pay for, and a cover plan does not include it or replace it. What a plan does is take the sting out of repairs between inspections.

Smart Plan is modular, so you pick only the cover you want. If a rental property's wiring is what keeps you up at night, the electrical module is the one to look at, and landlord boiler cover can sit alongside it. Ask us about cover for a rental property and we will talk it through.

Landlord EICR questions

Between inspections, the fault call still comes to you

You arrange the EICR yourself. What a Smart Plan electrical module does is pay for the repairs your tenant rings you about in between, parts and labour up to £500 in a 12-month period, through a national network of thousands of vetted engineers and tradespeople. We aim to get an engineer out to you within two working days, and cover-plan call-outs run Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 18:00. A £95 call-out fee is paid in advance in the cases our terms and conditions set out, including inside your first 30 days, when cover still applies. Once a service is used a 12-month agreement period begins, and the 14-day cooling-off period ends at that point. It is a service plan from UK Boiler Company Ltd, not insurance.

Related links

• Boiler cover for landlords
• CP12 gas safety certificate: the landlord gas duty
• Electrical cover
• Electrical repairs
• Ask us about cover for a rental property
• Gov.uk: electrical safety standards in the private and social rented sectors
• The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector and Social Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, regulation 3