Four different documents share the name and they are not interchangeable. An installation certificate is issued for new work. A minor works certificate is issued for an alteration. A condition report is the periodic inspection of an installation that already exists. And an appliance register is the record of portable equipment, which is not a certificate at all. Asking for an electrical certificate without saying which one produces the wrong document about half the time, so this page sets out who each is for and what the person asking for yours is really looking for.
Landlord electrical safety certificate what is checked, and what the inspector reports
In a private rented home in England the duty is a periodic inspection and test of the fixed installation at least every five years, and what is examined is the consumer unit and its protective devices, the earthing and bonding, the circuits and their insulation resistance, the polarity, the presence and operation of residual current protection, the condition of accessories and any visible damage or overheating. Appliances the landlord supplies are not part of it. The report comes back satisfactory or unsatisfactory, and an unsatisfactory one is not a fine: it is a list of coded observations, and the regulations then give twenty eight days, or sooner if the report says so, to complete the remedial work and to obtain written confirmation that it is done.
Electrical safety certificate commercial property, and the electrical installation condition report commercial property owners buy
There is no five yearly rule for commercial premises. The duty is the general one to maintain electrical systems so that they do not give rise to danger, and the interval comes from the risk: an office may sit comfortably at five years while a workshop, a commercial kitchen or a site with three phase machinery is inspected more often, and the previous report is what sets the next date. What a landlord's agent or an insurer asks for is usually the same document under a different name, so the practical answer is to hold a condition report with a stated next inspection date, and to make sure the report's scope covers the demise the lease actually makes you responsible for.
Where a certificate is handed over, and to whom
A landlord gives a copy of the report to the existing tenants within twenty eight days, to a new tenant before they occupy, to a prospective tenant on request within twenty eight days, and to the local authority within seven days if asked. On new work the installation certificate goes to the person who ordered the work and, where it is notifiable, the building control notification follows from the installer's competent person scheme. In a commercial letting the report usually travels with the pre contract enquiries, which is why a missing one delays a sale rather than a service.
EIC electrical certificates, which are for work that has just been done
An electrical installation certificate is issued by the person who carried out new work, and it certifies the design, the construction and the inspection and testing of that work against the wiring standard, with schedules of the circuits installed. It is not a periodic document and it says nothing about the rest of the installation: a new kitchen circuit gets a certificate for the new circuit. Where the work is an alteration or addition rather than a new installation, the equivalent is a minor electrical installation works certificate. Keep both with the property's papers, because on a sale or a letting they are the evidence that work was done by somebody competent and notified where it had to be.
Other questions people ask
Is an electrical safety certificate near me search the right way to find somebody?
It finds candidates and no more. The thing to check is not distance but whether the person is qualified to inspect and test rather than only to install, since those are different competences with different qualifications, and whether they are registered with a scheme that will stand behind the work. Ask what qualification they hold for inspection and testing, ask which scheme they belong to and check the number on that scheme's own register, and ask whether the price includes the remedial work or only the report.
Is a landlord electrical safety certificate near me the same in every council area?
The regulations are the same across England, and enforcement is the local authority's, so what varies is attention rather than rule. A council running a licensing scheme for houses in multiple occupation or a selective scheme in certain streets will ask for the report as part of the licence, which makes the practical requirement tighter in those areas. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own regime, so a report bought against English guidance is not automatically the right document there.
Are electrical safety certificates Hemel Hempstead landlords buy different from anywhere else in England?
No. One set of regulations covers England, the inspection is to the same national wiring standard, and the report form is the same. What differs locally is the council's licensing activity and the supply of inspectors, which shows up as waiting time rather than as a different document. If a quote is unusually cheap, the thing to ask is whether it covers testing at all: a visual condition report with no dead or live testing is not a condition report and will not satisfy the duty.
Is a fixed wire inspection the same as an EICR?
Yes, in ordinary usage. Fixed wire testing, periodic inspection and testing, and an electrical installation condition report all name the same exercise on the same installation, and the document at the end of it is a condition report. The phrase fixed wire is useful for one reason: it makes clear that the subject is the installation rather than the appliances plugged into it, which are a separate register. So if a managing agent asks for fixed wire testing and your file holds a current condition report with its schedules, you already have what they want.
How much is an electrical safety certificate UK wide?
It depends which of the four documents you mean, which is why the quotes vary so much. A periodic condition report is priced on the number of circuits and whether the installation is domestic or commercial, plus any remedial work, which is the line that moves. An installation certificate for new work is part of that work rather than a separate purchase. A minor works certificate is a small addition to a small job. Ask for the number of circuits assumed, whether the price includes remedial work and re inspection, and whether the schedules are included, because a report without its schedules is the cheapest and the least use.
Sources
- Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, regulation 3 (duties)
- Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, regulation 4 (remedial work)
- GOV.UK: electrical safety standards in the private and social rented sectors, guidance
- Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, regulation 4