As a responsible Landlord you want to ensure the safety of both your tenants and your properties. A Landlord Electrical Safety Certificate or Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) helps you to do just that. An EICR inspection by a qualified electrician will highlight any problems with the electrical installation of a property and help to prevent any dangerous and potentially costly issues from arising.
What is a Landlord Electrical Safety Certificate?
A Landlord Electrical Safety Certificate is also known as an Electrical Installation Condition Report or EICR for short. It is a detailed report written by a qualified and competent electrician following their inspection of a property. It ensures the standards set out in the 18th edition of the Wiring Regulations are met. It looks at the fixed electrical installations of a property, but it does not cover appliances. Any appliances a landlord provides should be checked separately with Portable Appliance Testing (PAT). An EICR must be carried out every 5 years and at any change of tenancy. These new Regulations for Electrical Safety in the Private Rented Sector came into force on June 1st, 2020.
What happens during the Inspection for a Landlord Electrical Safety Certificate?
The EICR will generally take place over a period of a few hours’ dependant on the size and age of property. Your electrician is looking at the health of your electrical installation. They will check all wiring, sockets, light fittings and the fuse box. They will be checking to ensure there are no potential hazards, that there is no defective work and that your system is not overloaded. They will then provide you with the Electrical Installation Condition Report itself. They will talk you through the results and, should remedial work be recommended can provide you with an estimate.
What will the Electrical Installation Condition Report Show?
Your electrician will use set codes to classify their findings:
• Code C1: Danger present. Risk of injury.
• Code C2: Potentially dangerous.
• Code FI: Further investigation required without delay.
• Code C3: Improvement Recommended.
If code C1 or C2 are serious faults and if present on your EIRC, then work will be urgently required. A code C1 means the electrician may need to make the hazard safe before leaving the property.
An FI code will mean you will need to ensure further investigative work is carried out without delay.If a code C3 is present, then there are improvements that could be made but the installation meets current standards. The electrician who carried out your Landlord Electrical Safety Inspection will advise you as to the benefits of having this work carried out.A landlord then has 28 days to have any remedial work recommended by the EIRC completed.
How do I find an Electrician who can perform an EICR?
When it comes to electrical safety it is vital that a competent, fully qualified professional is called upon to complete the inspection. Regulations require that a landlord select an electrician who is both “qualified and competent”. To help simplify the task of finding a local electrician who meets these standards you can consult the Government-approved Registered Competent Person list. This holds the details of all electricians who have been successfully assessed and registered with an approved Competent Person Scheme such as NAPIT or NICEC. J Kirby Electrical is proudly registered with NAPIT.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding your Landlord Electrical Safety Certificate or would like a quote for remedial works recommended in your recent EIRC, please contact us today. We are your local, Sussex based electrical team. Fully qualified, highly recommended and with over 20 years of experience, J Kirby Electrical are the trusted choice for quality.
