Reviewed: 7 September 2026 | Applies to: private rented homes in England. This guide explains the electrical-installation duties and is based on the current Electrical Safety Standards Regulations and GOV.UK guidance. It is not a guide to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, and it does not cover the separate social-rented-sector equipment rules added in 2025. It is general compliance information, not legal or electrical advice for an individual property.
An Electrical Installation Condition Report, usually called an EICR, is the report obtained after the required inspection and testing of a rental property’s electrical installation. The document matters, but the statutory task is wider: keep the electrical safety standards met while the home is occupied, arrange inspection and testing by a qualified person, act on a report that identifies work, and give the right evidence to the right people on time.
Which England tenancies and properties are covered?
The Regulations apply in England to a specified tenancy: broadly, a tenancy of residential premises that is a tenant’s only or main home and involves rent. The law has technical exclusions. They include, among other categories, accommodation shared with the landlord or the landlord’s family, long leases or a right of occupation for seven years or more, student halls, hostels and refuges, care homes, hospitals and hospices, some healthcare accommodation, and moveable structures, vehicles and vessels. The current Schedule 1 exclusions should be checked where an arrangement is unusual.
The Regulations came into force on 1 June 2020 and apply in England only. Their title and scope were amended in 2025 to include the social rented sector. That change does not make the private-rented rules UK-wide. This page remains limited to the England private-rented workflow; a social landlord or a landlord outside England should obtain current advice for the relevant regime.
What an EICR requirement means in practice
The legal duty is about the electrical installation, rather than a particular commercial label for a certificate. An EICR is the common name for the inspection-and-test report used to evidence that work. It concerns the condition of the fixed electrical installation. It is sensible to ask the inspector to confirm the installation and any related work included in the visit, rather than assume that every electrical item in a property is covered by one report.
A landlord must make sure every electrical installation is inspected and tested at regular intervals by a qualified person. Regular means no more than five years apart, or sooner if the most recent report says an earlier inspection and test is needed. The current wording also requires inspection and testing before a specified tenancy starts. A five-year date is therefore a maximum interval, not permission to ignore an earlier date or a developing electrical fault.
Under the Regulations, a qualified person is someone competent to carry out the required inspection, testing and any further investigative or remedial work in accordance with the electrical safety standards. GOV.UK describes the check as being carried out by a properly qualified person. The legal responsibility remains with the landlord to ensure the duty is met. Best practice: before instructing someone, record why their competence is appropriate for inspection and testing, keep the completed report, and ask clear questions about any limitation or follow-up work. This is not a substitute for checking credentials or taking specialist advice where the installation is complex.
The report, copies and retention checklist
After the inspection and test, obtain a report that gives the results and the date by which the next inspection and test is required. The law then sets distinct deadlines. These are compliance deadlines, not optional administrative steps:
- Existing tenant: give a copy of the report within 28 days of the inspection and test.
- New tenant: give the most recent report before they occupy the home.
- Prospective tenant: provide the most recent report within 28 days of a written request.
- Local housing authority: provide a copy within seven days of its written request.
- Next inspector: supply a copy to the person carrying out the next inspection and test.
- Landlord file: retain a copy until the later of the next due date and the date the next inspection and test is actually carried out, unless a more recent report supersedes it.
Keep a simple property-level record showing the inspection date, the report’s next-test date, when each copy was issued and where the report is stored. Where an agent handles the appointment, give the agent a written process for receiving the report, checking the dates and sending copies. That is sensible management practice; it does not transfer the landlord’s statutory duty.
When an EICR identifies remedial work or further investigation
A report can say that further investigation or remedial work is needed because the electrical safety standards are, or may be, unmet. The landlord must ensure that a qualified person carries out that work within 28 days from the inspection and test, or within the shorter period specified in the report. Do not replace the report’s shorter safety deadline with an internal maintenance target.
Once the work is complete, obtain written confirmation from a qualified person that it has been carried out and either that the standards are met or that further work is required. Give that confirmation and the report which required the work to each existing tenant and to the local housing authority within 28 days of completion. If further investigation finds that more work is needed, the Regulations require the process to be repeated.
This is different from a general renovation plan or a cosmetic electrical upgrade. The statutory process is triggered by the inspection report’s finding. If there is an immediate safety concern, follow the qualified person’s direction and obtain urgent property-specific help rather than relying on a generic checklist.
Access problems, evidence and enforcement
Start the process well before the report’s due date. If a tenant prevents access, the Regulations allow a landlord to show that all reasonable steps were taken. The current text says a landlord is not treated as failing that test solely because they did not bring legal proceedings to secure entry. Keep dated appointment offers, messages, contractor attendance notes and any tenant response. The correct response depends on the facts; do not enter without authority or treat this summary as advice on access rights.
A local housing authority can use the Regulations’ enforcement process where it has reasonable grounds to believe duties have been breached. A remedial notice can require specified action within 28 days and gives a landlord a written-representations process. The current Regulations also allow a financial penalty of up to £40,000 for a breach, subject to the statutory procedure. The figure is a maximum, not an automatic fine, and older £30,000 references should not be relied on without checking the current law.
Practical EICR compliance workflow
- Check applicability: confirm that the letting is a covered England private tenancy and review the statutory exclusions if the arrangement is not straightforward.
- Build a due-date diary: record the report’s next inspection date and set an earlier reminder. Use the report’s earlier date where it gives one.
- Arrange the inspection: instruct a qualified person to inspect and test the electrical installation, retaining evidence of the appointment and completed report.
- Read the outcome: identify any required investigation or remedial work, who will carry it out and the report’s deadline.
- Complete and confirm: arrange the work within 28 days or the report’s shorter period, then obtain the required written confirmation.
- Issue and retain: provide the report and any confirmation to tenants and the authority when required, while retaining a complete property file.
- Review after changes: after significant electrical work or a reported fault, seek competent advice rather than assuming the next routine interval answers the immediate issue.
How this guide fits with other landlord tasks
This is a narrow England electrical-safety compliance guide. It does not replace Landlord Knowledge’s wider landlord regulation guide, the legal and practical context in the landlord repair responsibilities guide, or the operational triage guidance for a reported fault in Maintenance Triage for Landlords. These links appear inside an unpublished draft only. No published page has been changed to link to this guide.
Official sources and review note
Before relying on a compliance decision, check the current GOV.UK electrical-safety guidance, the current text of Regulation 3, and the current enforcement provision in Regulation 11. Recheck those sources and the property’s scope before publication or action, because legislation and guidance can change.
