Electrical installation reports
Five years is not the answer until you know which installation you mean.
A rented flat, the common-parts installation and electrical equipment used for work can sit under different duties. Name the premises and duty-holder before reading the date on the report.
Classify the installation
Do not apply a dwelling rule to every cable in the block.
A rented home in England
The private and social rented-sector framework requires qualifying landlords to have the electrical installation inspected and tested at least every five years, or sooner where the previous report requires it. Transitional timing matters for existing social tenancies.
A rented home in Wales
Fitness-for-human-habitation rules require periodic inspection of the dwelling installation, normally at intervals of no more than five years and sooner where the report specifies.
The landlord's communal installation
The Electricity at Work Regulations may apply where an electrical system is used in work activity. They require systems to be maintained so far as necessary to prevent danger, but do not set a universal five-year EICR cycle.
Portable and fixed work equipment
The type and frequency of checks depend on the equipment, environment, use and previous results. Do not turn a PAT label or one EICR into a verdict on every electrical risk.
Read the report
The date matters. The scope and observations matter more.
Match the report to the installation
Check address, distribution boards, circuits, exclusions, limitations and the person ordering the work. A report for one flat does not cover the landlord's common parts.
Read every limitation
Sampling, inaccessible areas, disconnected circuits and missing records narrow what the inspection establishes. Carry those limits into the decision.
Treat observations as actions, not decoration
In the rented-sector guidance, C1 means danger present, C2 potentially dangerous and FI further investigation required. The competent person should define the action and urgency for the actual installation.
Use the applicable rule and the report
Where a statutory maximum applies, the report can still require a shorter interval. Elsewhere the maintenance and inspection frequency should be risk-based and justified.
Close the loop
Keep the defect, work and verification in one chain.
Give each observation an owner
Record the affected circuit, required action, responsible party and target date. Do not close the report because a quote has been requested.
Keep the completion record
Retain certificates, invoices, photographs where useful, and any written confirmation or follow-up inspection that establishes what was rectified.
Record failed access without guessing
If inspection was limited by access or missing information, record the attempts and the unresolved area. That is an evidence gap, not a pass.
Sources for this page
Open the law and guidance yourself.
Current government guidance on five-year inspection, social-sector transition, reports, observations and remedial work in England.
↗Primary lawElectricity at Work Regulations 1989, regulation 4The duty to construct and maintain work electrical systems so as to prevent danger.
↗HSE guidanceMaintaining electrical equipment safetyHSE explains that check, inspection and test frequency depends on equipment, environment and previous results.
↗Wales guidanceFitness for human habitationWelsh Government guidance on periodic inspection and electrical condition reports for contract-holders' dwellings.
↗Links and current-law position checked 18 August 2026. Apply the governing documents, building facts and current law to the case in front of you.
Take the next step in LEASE-iQ
What does the lease allocate, and what belongs to safety law?
Use this for access, repair, cost recovery and document responsibility, not for a safety verdict.
Keep checking: LEASE-iQ cannot assess physical safety or professional competence. Use it to find the document route and make the safety evidence gap visible.
