Guide · Electrical Safety
EICR vs EIC: which document covers new builds and rewires
Two documents with similar acronyms govern a rental's electrics, and confusing them costs landlords real money: paying for an inspection a certificate already covers, or — worse — assuming a certificate covers what only an inspection can. The split is clean once seen: the EIC certifies new work at birth; the EICR reports on an installation's condition in life.
Electrical Safety
What exactly is an Electrical Installation Certificate?
The EIC is issued when a new installation is created or an existing one is significantly altered — a full rewire, a new consumer unit, new circuits. The installer certifies that the new work complies with BS 7671 as designed, constructed and tested, with the schedules of inspections and test results attached. It's a birth certificate: a statement about the work at completion.
Smaller jobs get the junior sibling: the Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate covers additions and alterations to a single circuit — an extra socket, a moved switch. Neither document expires as such, but both describe a moment; nothing on them promises the installation's condition years later.
Electrical Safety
What is the EICR by contrast?
The Electrical Installation Condition Report is a periodic inspection of an existing installation: an assessment of present condition against current standards, coded observations (C1, C2, C3, FI), a satisfactory-or-not verdict, and a recommended date for the next inspection. It's a health check, repeated through the installation's life — and it's the document the rental regulations in England, Scotland and Wales are built around.
The two documents answer different questions: the EIC answers 'was this work done right?'; the EICR answers 'is this installation safe now?'. Time converts one question into the other — which is exactly the logic the regulations encode.
Electrical Safety
When can an EIC stand in for the first EICR?
In England, the electrical safety regulations recognise the overlap: for a new installation, the EIC can serve in place of the first inspection report, with the next inspection due within five years of the certificate. A landlord letting a new build or freshly rewired property therefore doesn't need an EICR on day one — the EIC, supplied to tenants and authorities in the same way, does the job.
The stand-in has edges: it works for the installation the certificate actually describes, the five-year clock runs from the certificate's date (not the purchase date), and once that period ends the EICR cycle begins normally. Diarise from the document, and keep the EIC exactly as carefully as any report.
Electrical Safety
What should a landlord receive after a rewire or new consumer unit?
The EIC with its schedules — design, construction, inspection and testing — plus, for notifiable work in England and Wales, building regulations compliance evidence (typically a certificate issued through the electrician's competent-person scheme). A consumer unit swap or rewire billed without an EIC is a job half-delivered, whatever the workmanship.
Chase missing paperwork while the invoice is fresh: schemes can reissue certificates, and installers respond faster to unpaid balances than old requests. The document set is part of the product — treat handover as incomplete until it's in the file.
Electrical Safety
How do partial works sit inside the EICR cycle?
Minor works certificates and EICs for alterations slot into the file alongside the current EICR — they evidence that specific changes were done properly, and they explain to the next inspector what changed since the last report. They don't reset the EICR clock: the next-due date on the current report stands until a new inspection replaces it.
The practical habit: staple (digitally) every works certificate to the current EICR, so the property's electrical story reads in one place. Inspectors quote fewer FI codes when the paper trail answers their questions before the crawl space does.
Electrical Safety
Which document do tenants and councils actually want?
Whichever currently evidences compliance: the EICR in the normal case, the qualifying EIC in the new-installation window. Tenant supply duties and council production windows in England attach to the report 'or certificate as applicable' — the regulations anticipate both. What no audience accepts is a stack of minor-works chits standing in for either.
When selling or refinancing, the same file speaks to surveyors and lenders: a current satisfactory EICR (or in-window EIC) plus a coherent works history reads as a managed asset. The documents are cheap; the impression of an unmanaged installation is not.
Electrical Safety
What's the decision rule to remember?
New or significantly altered installation → EIC from the installer, which in England can carry the first five years. Existing installation, time passing → EICR on the cycle, with the report's own next-due date governing. Small alterations → minor works certificate, filed with the current report, changing no clocks.
When in doubt, ask what question needs answering: if it's 'was this work compliant?', a certificate answers it; if it's 'is this installation safe to keep letting?', only an inspection can. Landlords who keep that distinction never buy the wrong document — or skip the right one — and their electrical file reads, correctly, as one continuous story: certified at birth, inspected through life.
Need the certificate itself?
The EICR (Electrical Safety Report) page covers cost, process and every UK area we serve.
FAQ
Related questions, answered
Does an EICR cover portable appliances too?
No. The EICR covers the fixed installation only. Appliances you supply with the tenancy — kettles, washing machines, lamps — are checked separately, usually through PAT testing, which is good practice rather than a blanket legal requirement in England and Wales.
How long does an EICR take?
Usually 2 to 4 hours for a typical flat or house, longer for larger properties or older installations. Power is switched off circuit by circuit during testing, so tenants should expect short interruptions.
What are the penalties for not having an EICR?
In England, local authorities such as your local council can impose financial penalties of up to £30,000 per breach of the Electrical Safety Standards Regulations 2020. Authorities can also arrange remedial work and recover costs.
How often does an EICR need renewing?
At least every 5 years for rental property in England, Scotland and Wales, or sooner if the report specifies a shorter interval — inspectors can recommend earlier re-inspection where the installation's condition justifies it.
My your area property is a new build — do I still need an EICR?
A new installation comes with an Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC), which in England can stand in place of the first EICR for 5 years from installation. After that, the normal 5-year EICR cycle applies.
What happens if my EICR is unsatisfactory?
In England you must complete the remedial work within 28 days (or sooner if the report says so) and obtain written confirmation from a qualified person, then supply it to the tenant and, if requested, to your local council. Keep the confirmation with the report — together they evidence compliance.
Book it
Ready to act on this? The pillar page covers the certificate end to end, with every UK area linked: EICR (Electrical Safety Report).