Guide · Inspection & testing
EICRs, decoded.Including the codes nobody explains to you.
If you let a property out, or you're buying an older house, or you simply want to know whether the wiring behind your walls is fine — this is the page. An EICR is an Electrical Installation Condition Report: a proper inspection and test of a fixed installation, written up with codes against anything wrong. Steve does domestic inspection and testing alongside the fuse board and re-wire work, and this explains what the report actually says before you pay for one.
What an EICR actually is
An electrician physically inspects the installation — consumer unit, earthing and bonding, cabling, accessories, the lot — then runs a set of live and dead tests on every circuit: continuity, insulation resistance, polarity, earth fault loop impedance, RCD trip times. Some of that means the power goes off for a while, which is why it's worth booking for a day you're not working from home.
What comes back is a schedule of circuits with readings, plus observations. Each observation gets a code. The codes are the whole point of the document, and most people are never told what they mean.
The codes, in plain English
Danger present
Risk of injury right now — exposed live parts, for example. Immediate action required, and any decent electrician will make it safe before leaving the property rather than write it down and go.
Potentially dangerous
Not going to bite you this second, but it could. No earthing to a circuit, say, or a damaged cable inside an enclosure. This is the code that makes a report unsatisfactory and the one you need fixed.
Improvement recommended
Does not comply with the current standard, but isn't dangerous — very often just an older installation that was perfectly fine when it was wired. A C3 on its own does not make a report fail, and you should be suspicious of anyone telling you it does.
Further investigation required
Something couldn't be determined on the day and needs chasing down. Usually a bit of fault finding rather than a big job.
Landlords: what the rules ask of you
Since the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations came in, landlords in England must have the fixed electrical installations in rented homes inspected and tested by a qualified person at intervals of no more than five years, give the tenant a copy of the report, and hand a copy to the local authority within seven days if asked.
If the report is unsatisfactory — a C1, C2 or FI — remedial work has to be done within 28 days, or sooner if the report says so, and you need written confirmation that it's been completed. A report full of C3s is still satisfactory; you don't have to act on them, though they're often cheap to tidy up while someone's already there.
A new tenancy needs a valid report before the tenant moves in. If yours is coming up for renewal, that's the point to book rather than the week the tenancy starts.
Homeowners: when it's worth doing
Buying an older property, especially one that's not been touched in decades. A survey will say "electrical installation not inspected — obtain a report" and then it's on you.
Before a kitchen, an extension or a loft conversion, so you find out about the earthing and the board before the plasterboard goes on rather than after.
If you've got a rewireable fuse box, no RCD protection, round-pin sockets, rubber or fabric-sheathed cable, or a board that hums. Any one of those means the installation predates several rewrites of the regulations.
As a rule of thumb the industry suggests every ten years for an owner-occupied home, five for a rental, and on change of occupancy.
What Steve will and won't tell you
Free quotes and advice is his own stated position, and that extends to the report: if the honest answer is that your installation is fine and you don't need anything doing, that's the answer you'll get. Reviewers use the words "efficiency", "great care" and "competitive and fair" — the recurring theme is someone who solves the thing in front of him rather than selling a bigger job.
He specialises in domestic properties, so houses, flats and HMOs rather than industrial installations. Ring or message and describe the property and its age and he'll tell you what's involved.
Book an inspection
Ring 07807 704664 or email info@eddoweselectrical.com to talk through an inspection. Quotes and advice are free, and you'll speak to the electrician who'd be doing the testing.
This page is general guidance written for homeowners and landlords in Buckinghamshire, not a legal document. If your situation is unusual, ring and describe it.