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The short version
- EICR stands for Electrical Installation Condition Report — a safety inspection of your fixed wiring.
- One C1, C2 or FI observation makes the whole report unsatisfactory, however small the rest looks.
- C3 means improvement recommended. A report full of C3s still passes.
- Landlords in England need one every five years, with 28 days to act on a fail.
- It inspects fixed wiring, not appliances — sockets and consumer units, not your kettle.
EICR stands for Electrical Installation Condition Report. It is a formal inspection of a property's fixed electrical installation — the wiring, consumer unit, sockets and switches — recording every fault found, giving each one a classification code, and declaring the installation either satisfactory or unsatisfactory overall.
What an EICR actually inspects
The report covers the parts of the electrical system that are fixed in place and belong to the building. It does not cover anything you plug in.
- The consumer unit — breakers, RCDs, main switch and the condition of the enclosure
- Fixed wiring throughout the property, including cable condition and routing
- Sockets, switches, light fittings and their connections
- Earthing and bonding, which is where a large share of faults are found
- Any obvious damage, overloading, or work that does not meet current standards
Your appliances are not part of it. A kettle, a washing machine or a heater falls under separate appliance testing. This distinction catches people out often: an EICR can come back satisfactory while a plugged-in appliance is still faulty.
The four codes, and what each one costs you
Every fault found is given one of four codes. This is the part of the report that decides everything, and it is worth understanding before you read the observations list.
C1 is the one that stops the job
A C1 means danger is present at the moment of inspection — exposed live conductors, a damaged accessory you could touch, signs of overheating. A competent electrician will normally make it safe on the spot rather than leave and write it up, because leaving it is the thing the code exists to prevent.
FI is the code people misread
FI does not mean a fault was found. It means something could not be fully assessed and needs looking at properly — a circuit that could not be traced, or a section that could not be accessed on the day. It still fails the report, which surprises people, because nothing has actually been proven wrong yet.
A report can list a dozen C3s and still pass. It can list one C2 and fail. The number of observations tells you very little — the codes tell you everything.
Satisfactory and unsatisfactory, and why one fault decides it
There is no score and no percentage. The report is a binary outcome, and it is driven entirely by the worst code on it.
- Every observation gets a code as the inspection proceeds.
- If any observation is coded C1, C2 or FI, the installation is declared unsatisfactory.
- If the only observations are C3s — or there are none — it is satisfactory.
An unsatisfactory result is not a condemnation of the property. It is a list of specific things to put right, and most of them are ordinary remedial work rather than a rewire.
Who needs one, and how often
For landlords in England this is a legal duty, not a recommendation. The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 set the interval and the deadlines that follow an inspection.
Homeowners are under no legal obligation, but ten years is the usual guidance for an owner-occupied property, and sooner if you are buying somewhere with older wiring or have no record of the last inspection. Managing agents holding a portfolio generally track the interval per property rather than per block, since supplies and installation dates rarely line up.
When an inspection is due sooner than the interval
The five and ten-year figures are ceilings, not schedules. An inspection is worth bringing forward if the property has been rewired or extended, if a new tenancy is starting, if there has been water damage near wiring, or if breakers have started tripping without an obvious cause.
In older London stock the trigger is often the consumer unit itself. A board with rewireable fuses rather than breakers, or one with no RCD protection, is usually worth inspecting regardless of when the last report was issued.
What happens after an unsatisfactory result
The remedial work is quoted from the observations list, carried out, and then the affected items are re-tested. You do not usually need a whole second inspection — the electrician confirms the specific faults are cleared and issues the paperwork to show it.
Choose who does that work carefully. The person issuing the report should be qualified and competent to inspect and test, and it is reasonable to ask which scheme they are registered with before booking. We are NICEIC approved and carry out both the EICR and the remedial work across London, so the retest is not a second contractor's problem.
If you are holding a report you do not understand, the fastest route is usually to read the codes out to someone. Call 07727 619854 and we will tell you what is urgent and what can wait. For wider work beyond testing, our general electrical services cover installations, fault-finding and consumer unit replacement.
Frequently asked questions
A typical two or three-bedroom home takes around two to four hours. Larger properties, commercial units and installations with many circuits take longer, since every circuit is tested individually rather than sampled.
Five years for a rented property in England, or at change of tenancy if that comes sooner. Ten years is the usual guidance for owner-occupied homes. The report itself states the recommended date for the next inspection.
No. C3 means improvement recommended, not required, and a report containing only C3 observations is still satisfactory. Many C3s are simply older work that was compliant when installed and has since been superseded by newer standards.
A qualified and competent person with the relevant inspection and testing qualifications and calibrated test equipment. It is reasonable to ask which registration scheme a contractor belongs to before booking, and to see the certificate number on the finished report.
No. It covers the fixed installation — wiring, consumer unit, sockets, switches and earthing. Anything you plug in is covered by separate appliance testing, so a satisfactory EICR says nothing about the condition of your washing machine.