Covering Devon & South West England
An EICR or condition report is required periodically to make sure your installation remains safe for use. If you are a landlord, purchasing a house, or needing to get an electrical assessment of a property then this electrical installation condition report EICR guide is for you. It will help you know what it entails, and what you can expect from a Heritage written report.
At the bottom are 6 in-depth videos going into greater detail on what to look out for on an electrical condition report.
Heritage Electrical provide a condition report EICR service, and are of course on hand to help you out with any repairs required by the report.
In the following guide we will cover:
- What is an electrical condition report?
- What does an electrical report (EICR) cover?
- How much does an EICR cost?
- When and how often do I need an electrical report?
- The dangers of not having a condition report done
- Example commercial and domestic EICR reports from Heritage Emergency Electrician
- Condition Report Guidance for Landlords
- 6-part video guide on Condition Reports in-depth
At Heritage, every decision we make is governed by the IET Wiring Regulations, guidance from the NICEIC competent persons scheme, and 20 years of experience.
Located in Devon we cover most of the South West. So, if you have an electrical project you need to get off the ground, give us a call.
Heritage Emergency Electrician offers a full electrical condition report service (EICR) for your domestic, commercial or industrial electrical installation.
What is an EICR?
An EICR is short for electrical installation condition report. You might hear them referred to as:
• Condition report
• An EICR
• Landlord’s certificate
• Electrical certificate
• Electrical report
An EICR (for short) is a comprehensive set of inspections and tests, carried out by a competent person to assess the suitability of the fixed wiring installation in your property for continued service and usage. We’ll look at what that actually means below…
The report will clearly state whether the installation is satisfactory or unsatisfactory, and whether any remedial action is required.
You can download examples of completed condition reports below to see what you can expect from a Heritage Electrical inspection.
Please note: a condition report is not an installation certificate. However, it’s a common misconception. We often receive calls from customers who have had work carried out for which they have not received an installation certificate from their installer. We can come and carry out a condition report to ensure the installation is safe, however we cannot issue an installation certificate for the original work.
What does an electrical report (EICR) cover?
An EICR will check the condition of
• The intake equipment and supply to your property
• Your consumer unit (or fuse board)
• The wiring of each circuit from your board
• Condition of accessories (e.g. socket outlets, lights, switches etc)
Please note that the work involved in compiling the report does not include any remedial work required to make your installation safe, unless you commission us to do this.
Within each of these categories, there will be a large number of inspections and tests relating to considerations. These include:
- whether the installation is compliant with the IET wiring regulations
- will the installation keep the end user safe in the event of a fault
- whether the installation has been designed and installed effectively.
The above all relate to one important point! Is your installation safe?
How much does an EICR cost?
The answer to this question depends on a number of factors including:
• Number of circuits in your property
• The number of rooms
• Number of accessories
..and two very important points:
• Will we have access to existing test records?
• Do we have access to a schedule of circuits for your property?
As a rule of thumb, a standard domestic property might take a day; a larger domestic 1-2 days; a commercial installation 1-3 days; but as mentioned these timescales depend on the points raised. You can download examples below of a domestic and a commercial report so you can see the work which goes into compiling a report for a smaller vs larger installation.
Be wary of any inspector who claims they can do a thorough job in a few hours!
Heritage Emergency Electrician offers a full electrical condition report service (EICR) for your domestic, commercial or industrial electrical installation.
When and how often do I need an electrical report?
This depends on what type of property you have, and whether you welcome the general public through your doors or not.
Guidance on this is provided by the IET, and Heritage follows this guidance when making recommendations.
Please drop us a line if you need any advice on this.
Here are some examples of when you might consider getting a condition report done:
• You have bought, or are buying a new home
• You’re unsure when the last report was done(!)
• There has been a fault somewhere with your installation
• You’re about to let your property
• You sign a licensing agreement on a venue
• Your insurance requires it to validate a policy
The dangers of not having a condition report done
Worst-case scenarios include electrical fire, loss of property, and electric shock or electrocution. This will require an emergency electrician.
Not keeping records of inspections may invalidate your home or business insurance. You may be leaving yourself open to court cases being brought against you from members of the public who may have been injured by the electrical installation in your property.
We have found all sorts of potentially dangerous, immediately dangerous, and already catastrophic situations during the course of our visits! Situations such as:
• Poorly designed, overloaded circuits
• DIY jobs which are not safe from the outset
• Bad joints or connections, leading to overheating and fire
What can you expect from Heritage Electrical?
Our local engineers are City and Guilds qualified, use annually calibrated test equipment, and conduct a thorough, exhaustive inspection of your installation. Every single facet of your installation is checked so you can be confident that your electrical installation is safe.
You will be provided with a comprehensive report detailing all the inspections and tests carried out, together with test results.
The report will include (where required) details on any remedial work needed to make your installation safe for continued use.
The wording of the inspections (dictated by the IET) is not written in layman’s terms: don’t worry, your test engineer will talk you through any problems found in easy to digest language – and provide you with this advice in written form at the end of your report.
In short, we pride ourselves on being extremely thorough and transparent, for better or worse you will get a very honest appraisal of your installation!
Condition Report Guidance for Landlords
Please be aware that new legislation has been place from 1st June 2020 which requires all new private tenancies have a valid EICR.
Subsequent electrical installation condition reports should then be carried out at an interval of no more than 5 years.
If the report is found to be unsatisfactory, then the remedial action required and outlined on the report must be carried out no later than 28 days after issue of the report (or earlier if required by the report). Failure to carry out the remedial work could result in a £30,000 fine!
This article from the IET website provides more guidance on the new regulations, but please don’t hesitate to drop us a line if you need any of this explaining more thoroughly.
It also gives further information on the type of tenancies cover by this legislation.
To summarise, it will be exceedingly important as a private landlord to ensure your electrical installation paperwork is kept up to date, and that any remedial work required is undertaken promptly.
Deep Dive: What is an Electrical Condition Report?
In this series of videos, Tom takes a look in depth at the information contained in a typical condition report format, some of the tests and inspections carried out and why, plus how Heritage Electrical go above and beyond during the preparation of their reports for customers.
Condition Report (EICR) Guide pt.1
An Introduction | The Books We Use | What is Unsatisfactory?
Condition Report (EICR) Guide pt.2
Cable Sizes | Supply Characteristics | The List of Inspections
Condition Report (EICR) Guide pt.3
Test Results – What Does It All Mean? | Protective Devices
Condition Report (EICR) Guide pt.4
What Happens During a Fault? | R1+R2 Measurements
Condition Report (EICR) Guide pt.5
Maximum Zs – What Does It Mean? | Testing Cable Insulation
Condition Report (EICR) Guide pt.6
Comparison of Our Reports VS A Cheaper Contractor
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