Unsatisfactory is not a verdict on the property, it is arithmetic. One C1, one C2 or one further investigation item anywhere in the report and the overall assessment is unsatisfactory, however good the rest of the installation is. So the useful reading is never the word on the front page; it is which observations produced it, and what each one actually requires.
What an unsatisfactory EICR means, in the report's own terms
The overall assessment is driven by the observation codes. A C1 means danger is present and somebody is at risk now, so the inspector should have made it safe before leaving or told you what was isolated. A C2 means potentially dangerous, which is the commonest reason for an unsatisfactory report: no danger today, but a foreseeable fault would create one, and it needs urgent remedial work. An FI means the inspector could not reach a conclusion and further investigation is needed, which is also unsatisfactory, because an unanswered question is not a pass. A C3 means improvement recommended and does NOT make a report unsatisfactory, which is why a satisfactory report can still carry a page of observations. A report that is unsatisfactory with only C3s listed has been filled in wrongly.
EICR certificate meaning, line by line
Four parts carry the document. The extent and limitations box says what was inspected and what was not, including the sampling percentage, and it is where a limited inspection is declared; read it first, because everything else is only true within it. The observations and recommendations schedule lists what was found with a code against each item and a location. The schedules of inspection and test results give a line per circuit with the measured values, and a report with no test results is not a report. And the summary gives the overall assessment plus the recommended date for the next inspection, which the inspector may set earlier than the default. Signatures matter too: the person who inspected, the person who authorised it, and the scheme membership they work under.
EICR what is it for, once the codes are read
The report exists to answer one question: is this installation safe to continue in use, and if not, what has to change. That makes it a maintenance document rather than a certificate of quality, and it is why the codes are graded instead of being a pass or fail. Used properly it does three jobs: it turns unknown condition into a priced list of work, it evidences the duty to maintain for a landlord, an employer or an insurer, and it sets the interval for the next look. Used badly it becomes a PDF in a folder, which is the version that surfaces at a sale or after a fire, when the observations nobody actioned are read back as a list of what was known.
Who pays for the remedial work, and when
The owner of the installation pays, which in a tenancy means the landlord and not the tenant, and in a commercial lease depends on whether the installation is landlord or tenant equipment under the lease. The timing is where England is specific: where a report on a rented home says work is needed, the landlord has 28 days, or less if the report requires it sooner, to complete it and to obtain written confirmation that it has been done, and then to supply that confirmation to the tenants and to the local authority if asked. Get the remedial work quoted by somebody other than the inspector as well, not because inspectors are dishonest but because a quote against a written observation list is the easiest thing in this trade to compare, and the report is designed to make that possible.
EICR check online: what you can and cannot verify
There is no national register of reports, so there is no lookup that confirms a particular report exists. What you can verify is the CONTRACTOR: the competent person registers let you search by name, postcode or membership number and show what work the business is registered and assessed to certify, and that check takes a minute. Some scheme portals also let a report issued through them be validated by its reference, which is worth asking about when the paperwork looks thin. What none of this tells you is whether the inspection itself was thorough, which only the test results and the extent and limitations box can show.
An EICR certificate online, and whether a PDF is the real thing
Nearly every report now arrives as a PDF and that is normal; a scan of a signed pad is also normal. What makes it real is traceability rather than format. Check that it names the inspecting person and the business with a scheme membership number, that the schedules of inspection and test results are attached rather than promised, that the circuit lines carry actual measured values instead of ticks, and that the date, the address and the extent match what was done. The two documents that should make you ask questions are a one page summary with no schedules and a report whose test result columns are identical down every row, because real installations do not measure the same on every circuit.
What is an electrical safety certificate, and which one you were sent
There is no document with that exact name, which is why the phrase produces the wrong paperwork so often. What arrives is one of three things. An electrical installation certificate, which covers work that was just carried out and nothing else. A minor electrical installation works certificate, which does the same for a smaller job such as an added circuit. Or an electrical installation condition report, which assesses the whole existing installation and gives a satisfactory or unsatisfactory verdict with coded observations. When a letting agent, a mortgage lender or a licensing officer asks for an electrical safety certificate they mean the third one. If what you hold is the first, you have evidence about a kitchen rewire and nothing about the house.
How long does an electrical safety certificate last once you hold it
For a rented home the working answer is five years or the recommended date on the report, whichever is sooner, plus one extra trigger: a new tenancy needs a valid report in place before the tenant moves in, so a report that runs out mid tenancy is a problem at the next changeover as well as on its own date. For an owner occupier nothing expires legally, and ten years is the commonly used recommendation with change of occupancy as the other prompt. An installation certificate for new work never expires, because it is about work rather than condition. Nothing extends any of these: remedial work produces its own paperwork and leaves the report's own next inspection date where it was.
An electrical safety certificate Scotland asks a landlord for
Scotland asks for more than England does, and it asks for it in one visit. The repairing standard requires the electrical installation to be in a reasonable state of repair and in proper working order, and it also requires that any fixtures, fittings and appliances the landlord provides are, which is the clause England has no equivalent of. In practice that means a five yearly electrical safety inspection producing a condition report on the fixed installation PLUS a portable appliance record covering the landlord's own items, and a report that arrives without the appliance list is the commonest gap in a Scottish let. The other practical difference is that the tenant is entitled to see it, so the copy given at the start of the tenancy should be the whole thing rather than the summary page.
What does an EICR involve on the day
The inspection is a combination of looking and measuring, and both halves take time. The visual side covers the board and its enclosure, the earthing and bonding arrangements, the condition of accessories and cables, signs of overheating or DIY work, and anything that looks altered since the last time. The testing side is done circuit by circuit with the power off: continuity of protective conductors and of ring final circuits, insulation resistance, polarity, earth fault loop impedance, and the operation of every residual current device, with the readings written on a schedule rather than summarised. Where a circuit cannot be reached or cannot be isolated it is recorded as a limitation rather than skipped silently. At the end the inspector codes what they found, gives the overall assessment and sets the date for the next inspection, and on a commercial job states the sampling percentage they worked to, which is the figure that tells you how much of the installation the report actually speaks for.
Questions people ask about unsatisfactory EICR
Can a tenant be charged for the remedial work?
Not for the installation itself. The duty to keep the electrical installation in repair and the cost of remedying what the report found sit with the landlord, and in England the regulations put a time limit on doing it. Where damage was caused by the tenant, that is a separate question about the tenancy agreement and any deposit, and it does not change who has to get the work done or when.
Is an unsatisfactory report a reason to stop letting the property?
Not automatically, and the answer depends on the codes. A C1 means somebody is at risk now: the dangerous part should have been made safe or isolated on the day, and the property is not fit to be used with it live. A report that is unsatisfactory on C2 items is a 28 day problem in England rather than a today problem, unless the inspector says otherwise. A local authority can serve a remedial notice and ultimately arrange the work itself and recover the cost, which is a far more expensive route than doing it.
Can the same electrician do the inspection and the repairs?
Yes, and it is common and legitimate, because they already know the installation. The safeguard is the report itself: the observations are written down with codes before any repair is priced, so the work can be quoted by anybody. Where a report arrives with no observation detail and a single quote attached, that is the version to get a second opinion on, and a second inspection is cheaper than the wrong remedial package.