EICR and Electrical Safety: The Landlord's Guide to the 2020 Regulations

Every private tenancy in England needs a current Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) — the fixed electrical installation must be inspected and tested by a qualified person at least every 5 years, under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020. A report that comes back UNSATISFACTORY (a C2 or FI defect) must be remedied within 28 days. Local councils can fine landlords up to £40,000 per breach. This guide explains what the EICR covers, when it's due, what the defect codes mean, and how to run electrical compliance without drama.

This is general information about the law of England & Wales, not legal advice on your specific situation — always check the current text on legislation.gov.uk and gov.uk guidance, or take independent advice, before acting.

Key takeaways

• 5-year maximum interval. Every specified tenancy needs an EICR at least every 5 years, or sooner if the report itself sets an earlier date.
• UNSATISFACTORY means action within 28 days. A C2 or FI finding requires remedial or further investigative work within 28 days of the inspection, or sooner if the report says so.
• C3 findings don't require action. They're recommendations for improvement; the report is still SATISFACTORY.
• Report goes to the tenant, and the council on request. Existing tenants: within 28 days of the inspection. New tenants: before they move in. The local council: within 7 days of any request.
• Up to £40,000 per breach. The civil penalty cap rose from £30,000 (for breaches before 1 May 2026).
• The duty survives the Renters' Rights Act 2025. It attaches to the tenancy, not specifically to the old assured shorthold structure, so periodic assured tenancies are covered the same way.

What the Regulations require, and who they apply to

The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/312) came into force for new tenancies from 1 July 2020 and for all existing tenancies from 1 April 2021. They apply to a "specified tenancy" — gov.uk guidance defines this as any tenancy (including a licence to occupy) where the occupier has the right to live in the premises as their only or main residence and pays rent, whether or not it's a market rent. That is a wider test than "assured shorthold tenancy": it captures ordinary ASTs, periodic assured tenancies, and most licence arrangements alike.

Schedule 1 to the Regulations excludes:

• accommodation shared with the landlord or the landlord's family
• long leases, including shared ownership leases, or any tenancy granting occupation of 7 years or more
• student halls of residence
• hostels and refuges
• care homes, hospitals and hospices, and other healthcare-related accommodation
• mobile homes, caravans and boats

Everything else — including HMOs let to more than three people — is in scope. The Regulations don't apply to communal areas of blocks of flats (stairwells, corridors, shared lobbies); those are covered separately under the Housing Act 2004 where a local council issues an enforcement notice.

The landlord's core duties are:

1. Ensure electrical safety standards — the 18th Edition Wiring Regulations, published as British Standard 7671 — are met throughout the tenancy.
2. Have the fixed electrical installation inspected and tested by a qualified person at least every 5 years.
3. Obtain a report (usually an EICR) recording the outcome and the date of the next inspection.
4. Supply the report to the existing tenant within 28 days, to a new tenant before occupation, to a prospective tenant within 28 days of a request, and to the local council within 7 days of a request.
5. Retain the report until the next one is due, and pass a copy to the next inspector.
6. Complete any remedial or further investigative work the report identifies within 28 days (or sooner if the report says so), then supply written confirmation of that work within 28 days of completion.

What the EICR actually covers

An EICR is a formal inspection and test of the fixed electrical installation — the consumer unit (fuse board), the wiring within the walls, socket outlets, light fittings, and permanently connected equipment such as electric showers and extractor fans. It also covers circuits for specialist equipment like solar PV and battery storage. It does not cover portable appliances (kettles, lamps, toasters) — that's a separate, non-mandatory check called Portable Appliance Testing (PAT), which is best practice but not required by the Regulations.

The inspection checks whether the installation is overloaded, whether there's a risk of electric shock or fire, whether any electrical work is defective, and whether the earthing and bonding — the system that limits shock risk — is adequate. The electrician then produces a report setting out the property address, inspection date, their own qualifications, a schedule of circuits tested, any defects found and their classification, an overall SATISFACTORY or UNSATISFACTORY conclusion, and the date by which the next inspection is due.

The defect classification codes

Gov.uk guidance sets out four classification codes an inspector uses:

Code	Meaning	Effect on the report
C1 — Danger present	Immediate risk of injury. The inspector may make the hazard safe before leaving the property.	UNSATISFACTORY — must be resolved without delay
C2 — Potentially dangerous	A risk that needs remedying, though not necessarily an immediate one.	UNSATISFACTORY — remedial work required within 28 days
C3 — Improvement recommended	Doesn't meet current wiring standards but isn't unsafe.	No remedial work required; report can still be SATISFACTORY
FI — Further investigation	Something the inspector couldn't fully assess on the day.	UNSATISFACTORY until the further investigation is completed

A report with no C1, C2 or FI findings is SATISFACTORY and needs no further action until the next inspection is due. A C3-only report is also SATISFACTORY — C3 items are recommendations, not obligations, though acting on them improves the property's safety margin.

When the next inspection is due

A property's inspection date resets each time a valid EICR is issued. If an EICR is dated 14 March 2024 and specifies the standard 5-year interval, the next inspection must be carried out — and a new report obtained — by 14 March 2029 at the latest. If the electrician instead specifies a 3-year interval because of the installation's age or condition, the deadline moves to 14 March 2027; the 5-year figure in the Regulations is a ceiling, not a guarantee.

Letting the property for the first time works the same way in reverse: if there's no valid EICR (or the existing one is over 5 years old), an inspection must happen before the tenancy starts. Gov.uk guidance also confirms that re-letting to a new tenant does not, by itself, trigger a new inspection duty if a valid report already exists and needs no further work — but the landlord must supply the existing report to the incoming tenant, and a quick visual check before each new letting is sensible practice even where it isn't a legal requirement.

Providing the report — who gets it, and by when

Recipient	Deadline
Existing tenant	Within 28 days of the inspection
New tenant	Before they take occupation
Prospective tenant (on request)	Within 28 days of the request
Local council (on request)	Within 7 days of the request

Where remedial or investigative work has been carried out, written confirmation of that work — a satisfactory EICR, an Electrical Installation Certificate, a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate, or other appropriate electrical certification — must go to the tenant and, on request, the council, within 28 days of the work finishing.

Choosing an electrician

The Regulations require the inspection to be carried out by a person "competent to undertake the inspection and testing." Gov.uk guidance doesn't mandate a specific scheme, but as a matter of practice — not a separate legal rule — most landlords use an electrician registered with a recognised competent person scheme:

• NICEIC (National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting)
• NAPIT (National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers)
• STROMA Certification and ELECSA

All of these operate public registers, so the electrician's registration can be verified before booking. This is best practice for evidencing "qualified and competent," not a Regulations requirement in itself.

Civil penalties for non-compliance

A local council can impose a civil penalty of up to £40,000 for breach of the 2020 Regulations, current as at July 2026. That figure applies to breaches from 1 May 2026; breaches before that date were capped at £30,000 under the earlier civil penalty regime. The exact amount for a given breach is set by the local authority's own penalty matrix — the Regulations don't prescribe a scale — so it's worth checking the enforcing council's published policy rather than assuming a fixed figure.

Before a penalty is finalised, the landlord has the right to make written representations (28 days from the notice of intent) and, after a final notice, a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) within 28 days. Where the report indicates urgent remedial action is needed and the landlord hasn't acted, the council can also arrange the remedial work itself (with the tenant's consent and 48 hours' notice) and recover the cost from the landlord.

Beyond the direct penalty, a long-standing EICR failure can complicate an insurance claim following an electrical fire or fault, and — once the Private Rented Sector (PRS) Database is live — is likely to show up as missing compliance evidence on the landlord's record. The PRS Database is being introduced under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 and is expected to roll out from late 2026; the government's implementation roadmap describes it as recording core safety evidence, including electrical safety documentation, alongside gas and energy performance records. The detailed registration rules are still being finalised through secondary legislation, so treat this as a direction of travel rather than a fixed requirement until gov.uk publishes the operative rules.

Common landlord mistakes

Treating the EICR as a one-off. The 5-year cycle doesn't stop after the first inspection. A landlord who does one EICR at the start of a tenancy and doesn't diarise the next date is very likely to miss it.

Assuming "potentially dangerous" can wait. A C2 finding makes the report UNSATISFACTORY. It means remedial work within 28 days, not "when convenient."

Confusing PAT with EICR. PAT covers plug-in appliances and isn't required by the Regulations. A satisfactory PAT certificate is not a substitute for an EICR.

No evidence of delivery to the tenant. Sending the report by email is fine, but keep the email. Without evidence of when the report was sent, a landlord can't demonstrate they met the 28-day (or before-occupation) deadline if it's ever queried.

Re-letting with an UNSATISFACTORY report unresolved. If the report from the outgoing tenancy is UNSATISFACTORY, the remedial work needs to happen before the new tenancy starts, not "at some point after."

HMOs and electrical safety

The 5-year statutory maximum applies to HMOs exactly as it does to any other specified tenancy. In practice, many local councils set a shorter interval — commonly 3 years — as a condition of the HMO licence, not as a requirement of the 2020 Regulations themselves. That's a local, licence-specific rule, and it varies by council, so check the licence conditions for the property directly with the licensing authority rather than assuming a single national figure. See our HMO licensing guide for how licence conditions interact with statutory duties more broadly.

Practical compliance rhythm

1. Track the due date for every property. A simple spreadsheet with the last inspection date and the next-due date (from the EICR itself) is enough for a small portfolio.
2. Book 60–90 days ahead of the deadline. That leaves room for scheduling, any remedial work, and reissue of the report if needed.
3. Act on an UNSATISFACTORY report immediately, not at day 27 of 28. Get a quote within a week, book the work, and get written confirmation issued in good time.
4. Send the report to the tenant promptly and keep proof of sending — email is fine.
5. Keep every superseded report. They evidence a continuous compliance history if a dispute or council request arises later.

Sources and further reading

This page reflects the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector and Social Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/312, as amended) and the gov.uk guidance published for it, checked as at July 2026. For the Regulations themselves, section by section, see our full legal breakdown. For the wider Renters' Rights Act 2025 changes, see our Renters' Rights Act 2025 guide and the PRS Database page.

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Reviewed by Bradley Askew, Solicitor (non-practising), England & Wales. Reviewed 20 July 2026. This is general information, not legal advice for your specific circumstances — for advice on your situation, take independent legal advice.