Buying a New Home and Electrical Safety(EICR)

Currently in the UK, sellers are not legally obligated to provide a certificate of electrical safety to potential buyers.

There were nearly 2.5 million residential sales in the UK in 2014-2015, research carried out by Electrical Safety First found that only 37% of buyers had the electrics checked before purchase.

One in five home buyers believed that electrical checks were included in the recommended home survey report and just under half were unaware that checks were needed at all! Over a third of home buyers then went on to discover electrical problems that they were not aware of before purchase – something that could easily be avoided by getting a registered electrician to inspect the electrics and issue an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR). This is especially important when buying an older property or a property where extensive renovation is needed.

Please note, that a Home Survey will NOT inspect the state of the electrics, so make sure you have an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) carried out, ideally before buying a new home, to ensure your new home is safe and you aren’t left holding the bill; a full rewiring can run into thousands of pounds.

If you have already moved house, to give you the peace of mind that your electrical installation is safe, use a registered electrician to carry out a full inspection and test your home. This should take a few hours, depending on the size of the property and additional checks (garage,garden lights, outbuildings, basement and loft).

They will then issue you with an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR), which will either confirm that the installation is safe or highlight any hazards that need to be fixed. (Please be aware that a 20-30 minutes quick check is not a full EICR and you must contact a fully Qualified and Registered Electrician to carry out the full test of your home!)

Please note that homeowner or landlords are responsible to check the electrician’s registration, he must be registered with one of the national bodies, such as NAPIT or NICEIC, to be able to carry out the full EICR in your home. 

You can find a local, registered electrician here or contact us Cavendish Electricals directly If you live in a privately rented property in England or Scotland, your landlords must have EICR carried out every five years! We recommend that owner-occupiers have them carried out on a ten yearly basis at least.

For more information on electrical safety and how to get regular maintenance, testing and protection please get in touch.

You must check if your electrician is qualified and also registered to carry out Domestic work under Part P and he must be registered with one of the 5 main organization, which you can check on the Competent Person scheme here.

Please Feel free to contact Cavendish Eletricals & Services and send us an enquiry through our web page. If you have any question you can email us to info@cavendishelectricals.co.uk or you can call us on 015 3648 3348.

We cover a wide range of areas: Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Greater London (M25).