An EICR — an Electrical Installation Condition Report — is a health check for the wiring you can’t see. If you’re a landlord it’s a legal must every five years; if you’re a homeowner it’s simply the honest way to know whether your electrics are safe. Here’s what one really involves, minus the mystery.
First thing to know
An EICR is an inspection, not a repair. A registered electrician works through every circuit in the property — sockets, lights, the fusebox, the earthing and bonding, the incoming supply — and tests each one against the current wiring regulations. We take covers off, we test rather than guess, and we record a result for every circuit. You get a report that grades anything we find: C1 (danger present, needs sorting now), C2 (potentially dangerous, sort it soon), C3 (improvement recommended, not urgent) or FI (further investigation needed). A property “passes” when there are no C1 or C2 codes. The point isn’t to find fault — it’s to give you a written, honest picture of what you actually own.
Safety note
If an electrician offers you an EICR without ever switching off the power or taking a single cover off, walk away. A proper report cannot be done live from the doorway. Real testing means the lights go off for a while — that’s normal, and it’s how we find loose connections before they overheat.
When to call us
Call us if you’re buying or selling, letting a property, own a home over about 25 years old that’s never been tested, or you’ve just noticed scorch marks, warm switches or a fusebox with old rewireable fuses. A Redfern EICR is a fixed £185 for a standard three-bed, with a clear report you can actually read — and if we find something, we’ll price the fix separately so you’re never cornered into work on the day.
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