EICR, defined: an Electrical Installation Condition Report, the document a qualified electrician issues after inspecting and testing a property's fixed electrical installation and grading every defect found.
An EICR is the report produced when a qualified person inspects and tests the fixed wiring of a building: the consumer unit, circuits, sockets, switches, lighting points and earthing and bonding. It records the condition of the installation against the current wiring regulations (BS 7671) and grades each observation with a code that determines whether the installation is satisfactory or not.
The definition matters because in the private rented sector in England the EICR is a statutory duty with dates attached, not a good-practice document. Scotland and Wales run their own versions of the duty under their own housing legislation.
What the landlord duty requires
Under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, a landlord must:
- Have the installation inspected and tested by a qualified and competent person at least every five years, or sooner if the previous report says so.
- Give a copy of the report to existing tenants within 28 days of the inspection, to new tenants before they move in, and to the local authority within 7 days of a request.
- Where the report is unsatisfactory, have the remedial or further investigative work done within 28 days, or within any shorter period the report specifies.
- Obtain written confirmation from the electrician that the remedial work is complete, and pass it to the tenant and the local authority within 28 days of the work being done.
Local authorities can serve remedial notices, arrange the work themselves and recover the cost, and impose civil penalties for non-compliance.
What C1, C2, C3 and FI mean
Every observation on the report carries one of four codes:
- C1, danger present: a risk of injury exists now, such as exposed live conductors. The electrician will normally make it safe on the spot and the landlord must act immediately.
- C2, potentially dangerous: not an immediate danger but likely to become one, such as missing earthing on a metal-clad fitting. Urgent remedial work.
- C3, improvement recommended: the installation does not meet current standards but is not dangerous, such as an older consumer unit with no RCD protection on some circuits.
- FI, further investigation: the electrician could not establish whether a defect exists without more work, for example a circuit that could not be traced.
A report with only C3 observations, or none, is satisfactory. Any C1, C2 or FI makes the report unsatisfactory, and the 28-day remedial clock starts.
EICR example: an unsatisfactory report on a converted flat
A letting agent orders a periodic EICR on a two-bedroom flat above a shop. The electrician records two C2 observations (no supplementary bonding in the bathroom, a damaged socket front in the kitchen) and one FI for a spur whose origin cannot be found. The report is unsatisfactory. The agent books the same contractor for the following week, the bonding is installed, the socket replaced, and the spur traced to a redundant immersion heater circuit and disconnected. The electrician issues a minor works certificate and a written confirmation, the agent sends both to the tenant and files them with the report. The five-year cycle now runs from the original inspection date, not from the remedial work.
What an EICR does not do, and the mistakes landlords make
It does not cover appliances. Portable appliance testing is a separate exercise, and a landlord's own supplied appliances are not part of the fixed installation.
It does not certify new work. New circuits and alterations get an Electrical Installation Certificate or a minor works certificate. An EICR describes the condition of what is already there.
It cannot be done remotely. The inspection involves dead and live testing at the board and the accessories, and a competent person has to be on site with instruments. No photo or video replaces it.
The recurring mistakes: letting the five years lapse because the renewal date lived in one person's calendar; treating C3 as a reason to ignore the report entirely, when a pattern of C3 observations usually signals a board that will fail next time; starting the remedial clock from the day the report was read rather than the day it was issued; and paying for the remedial work but never collecting the written confirmation, which is the document the local authority actually asks for.
Where the record goes, and where remote capture helps
The report, the remedial confirmation and the dates each was sent to the tenant are the compliance file. Keep them against the property with a timestamp you control, and schedule the re-inspection from the report date. The inspection report itself is the electrician's document.
Remote capture has a narrower role here than in a property inspection, and it is worth being honest about that. Three things work: the tenant photographing the consumer unit and meter cupboard before the visit so the electrician knows what board they are walking into and how long to book; the tenant confirming access arrangements and any tripping or scorching they have noticed; and the contractor recording proof of work after remedials (the new socket front, the bonding clamp, the labelled board) so the landlord has dated evidence alongside the written confirmation. The test itself stays with the person holding the instruments.
Venta Capture, a product of VentaVid, covers those three steps. The tenant or contractor is sent a link, follows guided steps in the mobile browser with no app, and the photos and spoken notes arrive timestamped and sealed on the property's case for the compliance team to review. More at the Venta Capture pages.
In practice: see how field service teams use Venta Capture.