The EICR time bomb: your first mandatory electrical report may have expired already

The first wave of compulsory electrical safety reports is now hitting its five-year expiry date, and renewing them in 2026 comes with a new sting in the tail, courtesy of the Renters’ Rights Act.

When mandatory electrical checks landed on the private rented sector back in 2020, they were the talk of the Property118 readership, our coverage of the new rules and the Electrical Safety Installations Act 2020 drew hundreds of comments from landlords trying to work out what they actually had to do, and by when.

Five years on, that “by when” has come back around. The Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICRs) that landlords rushed to obtain in 2020 and 2021 are valid for a maximum of five years, which means a huge cohort of them are expiring right now (or may have already expired), through 2025 and into 2026. If you got yours done to beat the original deadline, it’s time to check the expiry date on page one.

A reminder of where the rules came from

The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 required every landlord in England to:

• have all fixed electrical installations inspected and tested by a qualified person at least every five years;
• ensure a satisfactory EICR was in place for new tenancies from 1 July 2020, and for all existing tenancies by 1 April 2021;
• supply the report to existing tenants within 28 days, to new tenants before they move in, and to the local authority within 7 days of a written request;
• carry out any remedial or further investigative work flagged as C1, C2 or FI within 28 days (or sooner, if the report says so).

When the regulations were first introduced, landlords faced penalties of up to £30,000 for non-compliance. Following amendments that came into force in late 2025, local authorities can now impose financial penalties of up to £40,000.

Why this matters again now

Two things have put electrical safety back on the agenda. First, the maths: a property first certified in spring 2021 needs re-testing by spring 2026. The “one-off” job many landlords ticked off five years ago is now a recurring obligation, and a lapsed EICR is exactly the kind of paperwork gap a local authority, or a tenant’s solicitor, will seize on.

Second, the rules have just been extended to social housing. From this month, social landlords face mandatory five-year checks of their own, backed by fines of up to £40,000. As Steven Devine of Electrical Safety First put it, with “more than half of accidental domestic fires across England caused by electricity,” the direction of travel is only towards tighter enforcement, not looser.

What’s changed since your last report

Don’t assume a renewal will be a formality just because you passed last time. The standard EICRs are assessed against (BS 7671) has moved on, with Amendment 2 of the 18th Edition in force since 2022. Practical consequences landlords are seeing on re-inspection include:

• Tighter coding. Inspectors are increasingly classifying older installations as C2 (“potentially dangerous”), which makes the whole report unsatisfactory and triggers the 28-day remedial clock.
• Arc Fault Detection Devices (AFDDs) now recommended for higher-risk premises such as HMOs.
• EV charge points and heat pumps adding load to consumer units that were never designed for them.
• Rising costs and patchy availability of qualified engineers in some regions, so booking early matters.

The Renters’ Rights Act twist: getting through the front door

Here’s the part that’s genuinely new. To carry out the inspection, you need access — and from 1 May 2026, Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions have been abolished under the Renters’ Rights Act. The blunt instrument some landlords once relied on to deal with a tenant who repeatedly refused entry is gone.

The good news is that the original 2020 regulations anticipated this: a landlord is not in breach if a tenant prevents access, provided they can show they took “all reasonable steps”, and the rules are explicit that you are not required to take legal action to force entry. The catch is evidential. If a tenant stonewalls you, the  burden is now firmly on you to document every attempt, letters, emails, texts, offered appointment dates, so you can prove reasonable steps to the council if  challenged. With no-fault possession off the table, that paper trail is your protection.

What to do now

1. Dig out your EICR and check the expiry date on every property — prioritise anything certified in 2020 or 2021.
2. Book renewals early, especially in areas where qualified engineers are stretched.
3. Budget for remedial work — coding standards have tightened, so a clean pass last time is no guarantee.
4. Keep your distribution trail: report to tenants within 28 days, to the council within 7 days of a request.
5. Log every access request in writing — your defence if a tenant refuses entry now that Section 21 has gone.

Five years ago this was a brand-new obligation that caught thousands of landlords on the hop. The difference now is that there’s no “first time” excuse left, and a lapsed certificate now sits alongside a much tougher enforcement and possession regime.

Over to you:

Have your renewal EICRs come back with new C2 codes that passed last time?

How are you handling tenants who won’t grant access now that Section 21 is gone?

Share your experience in the comments.