What an EICR is
An EICR is an Electrical Installation Condition Report. It is a formal inspection of the fixed wiring in a property: the consumer unit (the fuse box), the cables, the sockets, the switches and the light fittings. It does not cover the kettle or the washing machine, only what is wired in. The result is a written report that says whether the installation is satisfactory or unsatisfactory, and lists anything that needs attention.
We have been carrying out EICRs on the Fylde coast since 2004. Our testing and inspection lead holds the City and Guilds 2391 qualification, which is the standard for inspection and testing, and every one of our five electricians is qualified to the 18th Edition of the wiring regulations, BS 7671.
Who needs one and how often
Private landlords in England must have a satisfactory EICR for every rented home, repeated at least every five years, and give a copy to tenants and to the council on request. Houses in multiple occupation, known as HMOs, have the same five-year rule written into their licence conditions. Guest houses that offer accommodation have a duty under fire safety law to keep the electrics in good order, and an EICR is the accepted way to show that.
Homeowners are not required by law to have one, but we recommend an inspection every ten years, when buying a house, or whenever you suspect something is wrong. If you are selling, a recent satisfactory report answers the buyer’s surveyor before the question is asked.
What happens on the day
We start with a walk round and a look at the consumer unit. Then we switch the power off, circuit by circuit, and test each one with calibrated instruments. We are checking that the earthing is sound, that cable insulation has not broken down, that protective devices trip when they should, and that the installation matches what the regulations expect for its age.
We lift a sample of sockets and switches to look behind them, and we go into the loft if there is one. We put everything back as we found it. Any C1 fault, which means immediate danger, we make safe before we leave and tell you straight away. The written report lands in your inbox within 48 hours, with photos of anything we have coded and a plain explanation of what each code means.
If the report is unsatisfactory we send a separate itemised quote for the remedial work. You can use it or not. Once the work is done we issue a new certificate: an Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) for a new circuit or a replaced consumer unit, or a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate for small fixes. Anything notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations is registered with building control through our NICEIC registration, and the compliance certificate is posted to you.
What it costs
Our EICR prices are fixed by property size, not by how many faults we find. A one or two bedroom flat or house is £120 including VAT, a three-bed is from £150, and four bedrooms and above from £180. The landlord bundle at £165 adds a smoke and heat alarm check on the same visit, which covers the other certificate most letting agents ask for. Landlords with several properties, and managing agents, get a per-property rate on request.
Landlords on the Fylde coast
A lot of our inspection work is in Blackpool, where the guest houses behind the Promenade and the HMOs around Central Drive and the South Shore have been converted, extended and rewired in stages over decades. These buildings often have more than one consumer unit, circuits that nobody has labelled, and wiring from three or four different eras. We know what to look for, we label as we go, and we leave the next electrician a clearer picture than we found.
Further up the coast, the older terraces in Fleetwood and the bungalows at Cleveleys suffer from coastal damp and salt air, which corrodes terminals in outdoor fittings and in meter cupboards on exposed walls. In Lytham and St Annes the larger older houses tend to have long cable runs and additions from every decade since the 1950s. We see these things every week, and we report on them without drama.
