How often does a rented property need an EICR?

For rented homes the interval is set by law, not left to the landlord's judgement. Here is how the 5-yearly duty works and how it interacts with new tenancies.

The 5-year legal interval

Under the Electrical Safety Standards 2020, landlords of most privately rented homes in England must have the fixed electrical installation inspected and tested at least every 5 years by a competent person. The interval runs from the date of the last satisfactory EICR. Crucially, the five years is a maximum — if the inspecting electrician records a shorter recommended interval on the report because the installation is older or showing wear, that shorter date becomes the deadline. The duty applied to new tenancies from 1 July 2020 and to existing tenancies from 1 April 2021.

The word competent matters here, because the regulations do not let just anyone carry out the inspection. The person doing the EICR must be a qualified and competent electrician, and in practice this means someone registered with a recognised scheme such as NICEIC or NAPIT, working to BS 7671, the 18th Edition Wiring Regulations. A report produced by someone without the right qualifications does not satisfy the duty, however thorough it looks, so part of meeting the five-year requirement is making sure the inspection is done by an appropriately competent person in the first place. Landlords are entitled to ask for evidence of qualifications and scheme membership, and a reputable electrician will provide it without hesitation.

It is also worth being clear about what the five years actually covers. The interval applies to the fixed electrical installation — the wiring, the consumer unit, the circuits, the sockets and switches and fixed lighting — not to portable appliances the landlord supplies, which are a separate matter handled by appliance checks. The EICR is the document that evidences the installation has been assessed to the required standard within the legal window, and keeping it current is the core of the landlord's electrical-safety duty. Everything else in the regulations, from tenant copies to remedial deadlines, hangs off that central requirement to have a valid, in-date report.

England, Electrical Safety Standards 2020. Confirm current detail on GOV.UK. Source: GOV.UK guidance.

Does change of tenancy trigger a new EICR?

A common question is whether each new tenant means a fresh inspection. The answer is that a new EICR is not automatically required for every change of tenancy if a valid report is still in date. What the regulations require is that a valid report is in place and that the new tenant is given a copy before they occupy the property, plus any prospective tenant who requests it within 28 days. So if the property's EICR was carried out two years ago and remains satisfactory, a new tenancy does not reset the five years — but the landlord must still supply that existing report to the incoming tenant.

This often surprises landlords who assume each tenant needs their own inspection, but the logic is sound: the EICR assesses the installation, not the tenancy, and the installation does not change because the occupant does. What the regulations are careful to ensure is that whoever lives there has seen the current report — hence the requirement to give a new tenant a copy before they occupy, and to provide one to any prospective tenant who asks within 28 days. The five-year clock is tied to the date of the last satisfactory inspection, and only a new inspection, or the report's own shorter interval, moves it.

That said, a change of tenancy is a natural moment to check the report's status even when a new one is not strictly due. If the existing EICR is approaching its expiry, or if the report set a shorter interval that is about to lapse, a void period between tenancies is the practical time to have the inspection done, because the property is empty and access is simple. Treating a tenancy change as a prompt to review the dates — rather than as an automatic trigger for a fresh EICR — keeps a landlord both compliant and efficient, avoiding both an unnecessary inspection and an accidental lapse.

Deadlines that come with it

The interval is only part of the duty. Once the EICR is done, the landlord must supply a copy to existing tenants within 28 days of the inspection and to the local authority on request. Where the report flags remedial or further-investigation work, it must be completed within 28 days, or any shorter period the report specifies, with written confirmation obtained. Missing the interval, or failing to act on an unsatisfactory result, can lead the local authority to serve a remedial notice and impose a financial penalty. Because the detail is set in law and can change, confirm the current position on GOV.UK.

The 28-day remedial window deserves particular attention, because it is where landlords most often come unstuck. An unsatisfactory EICR — one carrying a C1, a C2, or an FI code — triggers a duty to have the work done and to obtain written confirmation that the installation is now satisfactory, generally within 28 days of the inspection, or sooner if the report specifies a shorter period for a particular fault. A C1, denoting a present danger, may need action far faster than 28 days. The confirmation is as important as the work itself: it is the evidence that the duty has been discharged, and without it a landlord can have completed the repairs yet still be unable to demonstrate compliance.

What counts as a rented property here

The five-yearly duty applies to most privately rented homes in England, but it is worth knowing the edges. The regulations cover assured shorthold tenancies and most standard private lets, while certain arrangements — such as some long leases, social housing, lodgers sharing the landlord's own home, and particular licensed or specialist accommodation — can fall under different rules or exemptions. Houses in multiple occupation are covered too, and have long been subject to electrical inspection requirements. Because the boundaries are a matter of law and can be nuanced, a landlord unsure whether a particular let is caught should confirm the position rather than assume.

The practical takeaway is that the great majority of ordinary private rentals in England sit squarely within the five-year requirement, and the safest working assumption for a typical let is that the duty applies. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own separate frameworks rather than this exact rule, so a landlord operating across the UK cannot simply read the England regulations across the border. For an England-based assured shorthold tenancy — by far the most common case — the answer is straightforward: an EICR at least every five years, a copy to the tenant, and remedial work completed and confirmed within the report's timescale. The detail beyond that is worth checking against current GOV.UK guidance, since the regulations are periodically updated.

Frequently asked questions

Sources & further reading

• GOV.UK — electrical safety standards in the private rented sector: guidance
• Electrical Safety First — landlords and electrical safety

Figures on this page are typical UK ranges drawn from published sources and depend on your specific property. They are guidance, not a quotation. Legal duties are summarised for guidance — confirm the current position on GOV.UK.